tuNlTElTsTATErOF AMIHUCA.* 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



By E. B. ^GRANT. 



^,\DTary of Co,., 






<L BOSTON: 
LEE AND SHEPARD 

1867. 

1/ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the j ear 1866, by 

E. B. GRANT, 

In the Clerk's Office of tlie District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 






STEREOTYPED AT THE 

BOSTON STEEEOTYPV FOUNDBY, 

No. 4 Spring Lane. 



Geo. C. Rand & Avery, Comhill Press. 



PREFACE 



The experience of Europe In the failure of their 
supply of cotton, caused by the late war, should teach 
the United States not to depend too exclusively upon 
foreign countries for her supply of so necessary an 
article as Sugar, of which the consumption is about 
400,000 tons, while the production of all kinds within 
her borders is less than 50,000 tons ; leaving 350,000 
tons to be imported. 

In case of war with a great maritime power, like 
England or France, which would, in part at least, 
prevent importation, sugars would necessarily advance 
enormously. 

The emancipation of slaves in the onty remaining 
strongholds of slavery — Cuba and Brazil (which is 
simply a question of a very few years) — would prob- 
ably, at first, as it has always done elsewhere, diminish 
the production of sugar in those countries at least 
fifty per cent. 

If such should prove to be the case, as this pro- 
duction exceeds 600,000 tons, the diminution would 
make so serious an inroad upon the ordinary supplies 
of the world that prices would materially advance. 

It is, without doubt, within the power of the United 



4 PREFACE. 

States to produce, within her own borders, not only all 
the sugar she requires for home consumption, but also 
to become a large sugai'-exportlng country, and that 
within a very few years. It is believed that the sugar 
beet is the plant destined to eflect this revolution, and 
the reasons are set forth in the following pages. 

The object of this book is to call attention to the 
importance of beet-sugar production in the Old World, 
and to demonstrate the advantage and feasibility of 
establishing it in the United States. 

Part I. is chiefly devoted to the history of beet sugar, 
and the relative advantages of Europe and North 
America for Its production. 

Part II. is wholly agricultural in its character, and 
gives instruction for the choice of soil suitable for the 
cultivation of beets ; the methods of preservation ; of 
raising the seed ; and of the preservation and use of 
the pulp. 

Basset, in his work, " Guide Pratique du Fabricant 
de Sucre," says, " The manufacture of sugar from beets 
Is one of the most important elements of public pros- 
perity. 

" Resting on agricultural progress and the wants of 
a constantly increasing population, allied by reason 
of the cattle which it supports with the production of 
meat and bread, based upon Improving cultivation, it 
renders to modern society the greatest services, at the 
same time that it attains for itself the highest point 
of prosperity and glory to which any industry ever 
had the ambition to aspire." 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

PAGE 

Sugar. Supply of the United States. — Manufacture of 
Beet-root Sugar in Europe. — Location favorable for its 
Production in the United States. — Value of Land and 
of Coal 7 

History of Beet-root Sugar. Its Discovery. — Early 
Experiments. — Extent of its Production and Use in 
Europe. — Production in France and in Germany. — Prices 
from 1816 to 1866. — Consumption of Sugar in Europe. — 
Production of Sugar in the World. — Quality of Beet-root 
Sugar. — Taxes 9-25 

Supply of Beets. Extent and Cost of their Cultivation. 

— Average Yield. — Saccharine Contents. — Profits of 
Cultivation. — Cost in France. — Probable Cost in the 
United States. — Advantages of Beet Culture. . . . 26-39 

Cost of Beet-root Sugar in France. Methods of Man- 
ufacture. — Detailed Cost of Manufacture. — Yield of 
Sugar. — Cost of Labor 40-46 

Profits on Beet-root Sugar. Estimated Profits in the 
United States. — Ability to Compete with other Countries. 

— Recent Improvements in Europe 47-54 

Production of Sugar in Various Countries. Relative 

Yield of the Cane and of the Beet 55,56 

Attempts to Manufacture Beet-root Sugar in the 

United States 57-63 

General Advantages of Beet-root Sugar Manufac- 
ture. Efiect produced in Europe by the Manufacture 
of Beet-root Sugar. — Probable Efiect of its Introduction 
into the United States. — Opinions of Distinguished 
Men 68-78 



CONTENTS. 



PART II. 

The Beet and its Cultivation. Analysis of the Beet. — 
Varieties. — Choice of Beets. — Choice of Soil. — Cli- 
mate 79-92 

Method of Raising the Sugar Beet. Preparing the Soil. 
— Ploughing. — Manuring. — Sowing. — Preparation of the 
Seed. — Seed Sowers. — -Method of Sowing. — Weeding. 
— Tliinning Out. — Cultivating. — Hoeing. — Transplant- 
ing. — Earthing Up 92-106 

Harvesting. Signs of Maturity. — Eflfect of Frost. — 
Effect of Eains and of Drought. — Methods of Harvest- 
ing 106-110 

Preservation of Beets. In Silos or Pits. — In Piles. — 
Method in Saxony. — In Massachusetts 110-120 

Seed. Importance of selecting the Best. — German Method 
of selecting Seed Beets. — Method of M. Vilmorin. — • 
Soil and Manure suitable for Seed Beets. — Method of 
Preserving Beets for Seed. — Methods of Planting and 
subsequent Culture. — Time of Harvest. — Method of 
Saving the Seed. — Chinese Method of Cultivation. . 120-126 

Manures. General Effect of Manures on the Beet. — 
French and German Systems of Applying Manures. — 
Artificial Fertilizers. — Effect of different Fertilizers on 
Saccharine Contents of Beets. — Stassfurt Manures. — 
Analysis of the Ashes of Beets. . 126-134 

Rotation or Crops 134-136 

Beet Pulp. Method of Preserving Pulp. — Method of 
Feeding it to Cattle 136-139 

Leaves or Beets. Their Uses. — Methods of Preserva- 
tion. — Their Effect upon Milch Cows 139-143 

Culture of the Beet. Its Advantages to Farmers and 
the Country 143 

Appendix 144-158 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 



PART I. 

My attention was drawn to the question of the sugar 
supply of the United States by the very high prices 
prevailing in the spring of 1865, and I commenced 
the investigation of the subject early in the month of 
March of the same year. 

Having satisfied myself of the firm basis of the beet- 
sugar industry in Europe, and that its establishment 
in the United States was not only practicable, but also 
promised to be highly remunerative, I spent several 
weeks in pursuit of that locality which possessed in 
the highest degree the advantages of cheap land, labor, 
fuel, transportation, and also a high market for sugar. 

Most of these conditions are fulfilled in the region 
which I have selected, viz., — the coal and prairie lands 
of Illinois, on the line of the Chicago and Rock Island 
Railroad, — the territory being intersected, not only by 
the above-named road, but also by the Illinois River 
and the Illinois Canal, which secure cheap, easy, and 
frequent transportation to Chicago, St. Louis, and the 

(7) 



J5 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

Mississippi River, with all important points in every 
direction. 

The condition sought that is unfulfilled is that of 
cheap labor ; but it is a vs^ell-known fact that, notwith- 
standing the high price of labor, the peculiarly favor- 
able nature of the soil of Illinois for the use of agri- 
cultural machinery enables the farmer of that state 
to cultivate land as cheaply as in any part of the 
world. For the enterprise in question, moreover, it is 
believed that the location is a favorable one, for it is 
in the midst of a German population, many of whom 
have had experience, in their own country, in the cul- 
tivation of beets and the manufacture of beet sugar. 

Land can be bought at from twenty-five dollars to 
forty-five dollars per acre. " Slack " or coal screenings 
can be had at factory for one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per ton ; and sugar is usually worth at Chicago, 
by reason of its distance from the present sources of 
supply, from one to one and one half cents per pound 
more than upon the seaboard. 

Having satisfied myself that the manufacture of 
beet sugar in the State of Illinois promised to be prof- 
itable, it remained to acquaint myself with the pro- 
cess and condition of its manufacture in Europe ; 
and for that purpose I sailed from the United States, 
early in December last, furnished with letters which 
have given me access to every establishment that I 
desired to visit in France and Germany. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



HISTORY OF BEET SUGAR. 

I will proceed to give a sketch of the history of 
the beet-sugar manufacture in Europe, but principally 
that of France, where this branch of industry is carried 
on more scientifically and successfully than in any other 
country. 

The beet is supposed to be a native of Turkey, and to 
have been introduced into France about the year i595' 

In the year 1747, Margraff, a Prussian chemist, dis- 
covered that sugar was contained in beets, and advised 
his countrymen to cultivate them for the purpose of 
making sugar. 

In 1773, Achard, a Prussian chemist, tried various 
experiments for the manufacture of beet sugar, under 
the patronage of Frederick the Great. Prevented for 
a time, by the death of Frederick, from pursuing his 
investigation, he did not again attempt it until 1795' 
when he planted sixty or seventy acres with beets. 
In the year 1799 be presented several loaves of beet 
sugar to the King of Prussia. He reported that he 
had produced a good quality of raw sugar at sixty- 
five centimes a kilogramme, or about six cents per 
pound, and expressed the belief that his process was 
susceptible of improvements that would reduce the 
cost one half. This report of Achard having been 
published in the annals of chemistry (" Annales de 
Chimie"), a committee, consisting of some of the 
most distinguished chemists of France, was appointed 
by the Institute, to investigate the merits of Achard's 



lO BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

discovery. Their report stated that the amount of 
sugar extracted was rather less than one per cent., 
and the enterprise was abandoned, until Napoleon I. 
again called attention to the subject, and appointed a 
new committee to conduct further experiments. M. 
Deyeux, a member of this committee, made his report 
in 1810, and presented two loaves of sugar, equal in 
every respect to the best sugar from the cane. 

In this report neither the percentage of sugar ob- 
tained nor the cost of production was given. Reports 
not well verified were published that in Germany from 
four to six per cent, of sugar had been obtained. 

By the experiments of M. Barruel, from fifty to 
sixty per cent, only of juice was obtained from the 
beet ; whereas the production at the present time is 
from eighty to eighty-five per cent. The yield of 
sugar was about one and one half per cent., while at 
the present time in France it is about seven ; in Ger- 
many, eight to nine ; and in Russia, nine to ten per 
cent. The cost was nearly thirty cents per pound, 
while at the present time it is about four cents. 

M. Derosne, a Frenchman, obtained about this 
time two per cent, of sugar from the beet. Other 
experiments yielded two and one half per cent. A 
factory working 500 tons of beets in a season was 
considered quite extensive. There are establishments 
now in operation that work 60,000 tons. 

A rasp then worked up about three tons per diem. 
Now, from 150 to 300 tons a day are consumed by 
one rasp. 

In 181 2 the continental blockade favored the estab- 
lishment of the beet-sugar industry. The cost of 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. II 

manufacturing sugar was about 105 francs the hun- 
dred kilogrammes (say nine cents per pound). 

Chemical schools and imperial factories were estab- 
lished, and government ordered the cultivation of 
100,000 acres of beets. The sum of $200,000 was 
placed in the hands of the minister of agriculture, 
with which to encourage the production. Five hun- 
dred licenses to manufacture were given, and the in- 
digenous sugar was exempt from duty for four years. 
The political events of 18 14 caused the failure of all 
the beet-sugar manufacturers but one, M. Crespel 
Delisse, who continued to work. 

In December, 1S14, the impost on beet sugar was 
fixed at forty francs the one hundred kilogrammes, — 
about three and one third cents per pound, — and the 
duty on foreign sugars at fifty per cent, advance (say 
five cents per pound) . This infused new life into the 
industry ; manufacturers introduced great improve- 
ments in their establishments, improving the processes 
of rasping and pressing to such an extent that they 
obtained seventy per cent, of juice from the beet, in 
lieu of fifty and sixty. 

Bone black, or animal charcoal, was used in filtra- 
tion. Machinery driven by wind and water, as well 
as by horses and oxen, replaced the more slow and 
costly processes of hand labor. 

The yield of sugar was from three to four per cent., 
and of molasses about five per cent, M. Crespel De- 
lisse claimed that he obtained five per cent, sugar and 
4.8 molasses. The cost of manufacturing was about 
eighty-five francs the hundred kilogrammes (say seven 
cents per pound). From 1822 to 1830 the number 



12 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

of manufactories largely increased. The yield of 
sugar was about five per cent., and the cost of pro- 
duction from sixty to seventy francs the hundred kil- 
ogrammes (average, say five and one half cents per 
pound). 

In 1835 France produced 5000 tons of sugar in over 
one hundred establishments. From 1830 to 1836 great 
progress vs^as made. The sugar produced was of im- 
proved quality, and amounted to about five per cent, 
of the weight of beets worked. The introduction of 
steam power increased the means of production ten- 
fold. In 1836 four hundred and thirty-six factories 
were in operation. 

The intimate relation between this branch of in- 
dustry and agriculture developed itself, and there 
were no longer unimproved lands in the vicinity of a 
sugar manufactory. In the department of the North, 
where the industry was most firmly established, the 
number of acres under cultivation in grain increased 
enormously, the beet pulp furnishing farmers with the 
means of feeding an increased number of cattle, thus 
providing the means of fertilizing an increased amount 
of land. 

In 1837 government laid a manufacturer's tax on 
domestic sugars of fifteen francs the hundred kilo- 
grammes (say one and one fourth cents per pound). 
This caused the failure of one hundred and sixty-six 
establishments. 

In 1837 •^- P^^yen, professor of the " School of 
Arts and Manufactures," in a communication to the 
" Royal and Central Agricultural Society," stated that 
beets in a fresh state contained ten per cent, of crys- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 1 3 

Lallizable sugar. They contained no uncrystallizable 
sugar, neither grape nor mannite. 

Nevertheless, by the processes in actual use there 
was obtained but five or six per' cent, in the two or 
three first months after harvest, and later in the sea- 
son three to four per cent, only ; the whole average 
being but four to five per cent. 

He expressed the belief that inasmuch as the beet 
contained ninety-five per cent, of juice, while there 
was but seventy per cent, extracted, the yield of 
sugar might be largely increased.* 

In order to stimulate improvement, the " Society for 
the Encouragement of Beet-sugar Manufacture " of- 
fered a prize of 10,000 francs to the person who should 

* The sugar beet actually contains ninety-five per cent, of juice, 
of which only eighty is usually extracted, although eighty-five 
per cent, is occasionally obtained. Robert de Massy, of St. 
Quentin, in France, has invented a method by which he claims 
to obtain ninety-three per cent. The inventor is a very wealthy, 
as well as an ingenious man, and claims that his process will not 
only increase the yield of sugar from one to one and a half per 
cent., but will also materially lessen expenses, as it dispenses with 
all the hydraulic presses, hurdles, and sacks, besides diminishing the 
number of workmen required in the factory. — I visited Mr. De 
Massy's sugar factory at Eusigny last winter with the proprietor, 
to see the apparatus in operation, but an accident prevented its 
working. Since my return, Mr. De Massy, through the " Jour- 
nal des Fabricants de Sucre," invited all the manufacturers to visit 
Busigny on the 15th of May, for the purpose of seeing the appa- 
ratus at work. The amount of juice obtained at this trial was 
eighty-nine per cent. ; but I infer from reading the article in which 
an account of the meeting is given, that the experiment did not 
thoroughly satisfy the manufacturers present of the value of the 
invention in its then existing state. 



14 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

find the means of extractinsr from beets containino^ ten 
per cent, (without increasing the usual cost of manu- 
facture) eiglit per cent, of crystallized sugar in the 
first four months of working, and 10,000 francs to any 
one who sliould extract eight per cent, crystallized 
sugar from any beets, without regard to the degree of 
richness or time of manufacture. 

I annex a table in which is shown the contrast 
between the average results obtained in 1837, accord- 
ing to Mr. Payen, and those of 1865 : — 

1837. 1865. 

Yield of beets to an acre, . 12 tons. . . 16 tons. 

Price of beets per ton, . . $3.00. . . . $3.25. 

Percentage of sugar con- 
tained in beets, .... 10 per cent. . 11 1-2 per cent. 

Percentage of sugar pro- 
duced from beets, .... 4 1-5 ".. 7 «' 

Cost of sugar per pound, . 7 3-10 cents . 4 cents 

Sugar produced in France, . 49,000 tons. . 270,000 tons. 

The production of sugar, which had risen to 49,000 
tons in 1837, ^^^^ to 39,000 in 1839, ^^^*^ ^^ 22,000 in 
1840. 

The history of the beet-sugar industry from the year 
1837 nearly to the present day, is but the record of a 
struggle on the part of the cane-sugar manufacturers 
of the French colonies with their formidable rivals 
the beet-sugar manufacturers of France : — 

In 1843, the beet sugar produced, was, . . . 28,000 tons. 

•' colonial sugar imported, .... 83,000 " 

In 1848, beet sugar produced 56,000 - 

'* colonial sugar imported, 62,000 " 

In 1850, beet sugar produced, 64,000 •« 

" colonial sugar imported, ..... 46.000 " 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. I5 

To-day the French colonists have a protection on their 
sugars in France of five francs the hundred kilogrammes 
(about half a cent per pound). The beet-sugar man- 
ufacturers have no protection, competing at a disad- 
vantage with French colonial sugar, and upon equal 
terms with the products of the rest of the world. 
Notwithstanding this, the following figures show the 
relative importance of the French traffic in native, 
foreign, and colonial sugars in the year i86^-6 : — 

Colonial importations, 76,103 tons. 

Foreign «« 144,083 «« 

Beet sugar manufactured, 270,000 " 

Beet sugar fifty-five per cent, of the total traffic. The 
exportation of refined sugar for the same period was 
114,150 tons, mostly of foreign and colonial sugars, 
owing to the policy of the French government, which, 
to encourage its commerce, accords an advantage to 
the refiner of foreign sugar for exportation, leaving 
the supply of the home consumption almost entirely 
in the hands of the manufacturers of beet sugar. 

Except in the immediate vicinity of the seaboard 
cities of France, no sugar is used but the beet. The 
same is true of Germany. Not an ounce of any other 
is consumed in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, 
Leipsic, or Munich. 

In 1853-4 ^^^^ high price of alcohol — one hundred 
and eighty-five francs the hectolitre (one dollar and 
fifty-seven cents per gallon) — induced some twenty 
manufacturers of sugar to convert their factories into 
distilleries, and in 1854-5 nearly one hundred more 
pursued the same course. 



i6 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



Since 1840 the production of beet sugar in France 
has doubled every ten years. 

In 1S30 the consumption of sugar in France was 
about two iDounds per head, of which the beet-sugar 
manufacturer produced nine per cent. 

In 1865 the consumption w^as over fourteen pounds 
per head, and the beet-sugar manufacturer produced 
more than enough to supply the home demand, al- 
though the total consumption had in the m^ean time 
increased tenfold. 

There were sixty manufactories of beet sugar in 
Austria in 1840; in 1865 the number had increased to 
one hundred and forty. 

The states of the Zollverein have nearly quadrupled 
their production in tlie past fifteen years, 52,586 tons 
having been produced in 1850, against 180,000 tons in 
1865-6. In the same time the quantity of imported 
sugar has fallen from 53,568 tons to 12,562 tons, 
proving that cane sugar is almost entirely expelled 
from Germany. In 1865-6 there were thirty new 
establishments built in Germany, and many old ones 
enlarged their inachinery. 

It will be seen by the following table which gives 
an idea of the importance and progress of this indus- 
try, that although the number of factories was but 
ninety-six in 1845, against one hundred and forty- 
five in 1840, yet the amount of sugar produced was 
greater. Establishments were consolidated and en- 
larged, it being found economical to w^ork upon a 
more extended scale. This table also shows the in- 
creasing tax paid upon the raw beets, which rose 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



17 



from twelve cents per ton in 1840 to three dollars and 
fifty-six cents in 1S65. 

Table 

Showing approximately the Quantities of Beets used 
ill the Manufactories of the Zollverein^ the Prod- 
ucts extracted^ and Rate of Taxation^ fro7n 1 840-1 
to Y^d^-^^ 





«<H ^ 


ns 


C 









i 


2" 


|§ 


u 


s 

11 




^ 


1 

A 


m 


5 


08 


[3 

jl 




h 


;^ 


03 


M 


^ jH 


c« 


r=i 


H 


CH 


1840 


145 


241,486 


13,445 


8,955 18 


5.55 


3.7 


9.25 


.12 


1845 


96 


222,754 


14,850 


6,905 


15 


6.67 


3.1 


9.77 


.71 


1850 


184 


736,215 


52,586 


19,877 


14 


7.14 


2.7 


9.84 


1.42 


1851 


234 


914,495 


60,966 


27,434 


15 


6.67 


3 


9. 67 


1.42 


1858 


257 


1.833,427 


146,674 


45,835 


12.5 


8 


2.5 


10.50 


3.56 


1860 


247 


1,467,701 


126,526 


35,224 


11.6 


8.62 


2.4 


11.02 


3.56 


1861 


242 


1,584,619 


122,838 


38,050 


12.9 


7.75 


2.4 


10.15 


3.56 


1862 


247 


1,835,663 


138,042 


44,055 


13 


7.52 


2.4 


9.92 


3.56 


1863 


253 


1,999,576 


151,180 


47,989 


13.2 


7.55 


2.4 


9.95 


3.56 


1864 


270 


2,079,729 


165,978 


49,913 


12.4 


7.98 


2.4 


10.28 


3.56 


1865 


300 


2,106,000 


180,000 


50,544 


11.7 


8.54 


2.4 


10.94 


3.56 



The average yield of sugar for the past eight years 
has been over eight per cent., and of molasses about 
2.40; but this includes, of course, the results of all the 
poorly managed establishments, many of which are 
worked by the old process. I have visited several 
establishments where the yield of sugar averaged 
nine per cent., and of molasses two and a half to three 
per cent., throughout the season. 

In France, too, where the whole average yield is 
perhaps rather less than seven per cent, of sugar, I 



1 8 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

know of establishments, working by improved pro- 
cesses, where the yield is from seven and three fourths 
to eight per cent, of superior sugar, and from three 
to three and a half per cent, of molasses. 

There were S6,ooo acres of land in cultivation with 
beets in France in 1850, and 297,000 acres in 1865. 
The product from this land was manufactured into 
sugar and alcohol, 270,000 tons of the* former and 
6,000,000 gallons of the latter having been produced 
in 1865. 

The 2^i"oducts obtained from beets in France, in 
about the following proportions, are, pulp, twenty per 
cent. ; sugar, seven per cent. ; alcohol, three fourths 
per cent. ; potash, one fifth per cent. ; soda, one tenth 
per cent. 

The pulp is the refuse of the beet after the extrac- 
tion of the juice. It is fed to cattle and sheep, which 
are extremely fond of it, and are quickly fattened 
upon it. 

It is worth from two dollars and seventy-five cents 
to three dollars per ton at the factories, and is esti- 
mated to be worth, for feeding purposes, one third as 
much as the best hay. 

After the sugar is extracted from the juice there 
remains about three per cent, of the original weight 
of the beet in the form of molasses, from which alcohol 
is distilled. 

The molasses, which usually sells at from fifteen to 
eighteen cents per gallon, produces twenty-five per 
cent, of 90° alcohol. The cost of distillation is less 
than twenty cents per gallon of alcohol. 

After the extraction of the alcohol, there remains 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



19 



from ten to twelve per cent, of the weight of the 
molasses in the following salts, in the proportions 
given below : — 

Per cent. 

Carbonate of potash, 40.33 

Sulphate of potash, 2.46 

Hydrochlorate of potash, 22.10 

Soda, 34.14 

Sulphur and divers matters, 97 



100.00 
The potash and the soda are extracted at a cost not 
exceeding three and a half cents per pound. 

The following table shows the average prices, ex- 
clusive of duties, of No. 12 raw sugar in Paris from 
1816 to 1828: — 



I8I6 


I2t^ 


cents. 


1823 


8j% cents 


I8I7 


iit7 




1824 


iotIi '' 


I8I8 


I2tV 




1825 


9t^^ " 


I8I9 


IIt'(J 




1826 


10/^ - 


1820 


iot% 




1827 


9x^(1 " 


I82I 


^Oj\ 




1828 


9x% " 


1822 


7t% 









From 1828 to 1854 ^^^ price gradually fell, and the 
following table shows the average prices from 1854 
to 1865 : — 



1854 


5A 


cents. 


i860 


6j\j cents 


i8ss 


6 




1861 


5A " 


1856 


6A 




1862 


5t% '•' 


1857 


7t% 




1863 


5^^ " 


1858 


SA 




1864 


SA " 


1859 


6A 




1865 


5 



20 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

The price in Ajoril, 1866, was four and three fourths 
cents per i^ound. 

The preceding table shows that the price of sugar 
has constanly fallen since 181 6. Yet production has 
steadily increased. 

It will be seen that the price of sugars, exclusive of 
duties^ was in 18 16 about three times greater than 
at present. But this does not fully convey an idea of 
the difference in the state of things existing then and 
now. 

From I Si 6 to 1833 beet sugars were protected by a 
duty on foreign sugars varying from five to eight cents 
per pound. 

From 1833 to 1840 they had a protection of two 
and one fourth to five and three fourth cents per 
pound. 

From 1840 to i860 they were protected by a duty 
of from one to three and a half cents per pound on 
foreign sugar. 

From i860 to the present time, not only has there 
been no protection as against foreign sugars, but sugars 
of the French colonies have had an advantage over all 
others of nearly half a cent per pound. 

In addition to constantly diminishing price, with 
steadily decreasing protection, wages have doubled, 
and it is to increased skill alone that beet-sugar manu- 
facture owes its present existence. 

The following table shows the production of beet 
sugar in France from 1828 to 1865 : — 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



21 



Year. 
1828 


Tons. 


Year. 


Tons. 


Year. 


Tons. 


4,665 


1841 


26,000 


1854 


77,000 


1829 


4,380. 


1842 


30,000 


1855 


45,000 


1830 


5,500 


1843 


28,000 


1856 


92,000 


1831 


7,000 


1844 


30,000 


1857 


80,874 


1832 


9,000 


1845 


37,000 


1858 


150,444 


1833 


12,000 


1846 


49,000 


1859 


131,762 


1834 


20,000 


1847 


60.000 


1860 


130,000 


1835 


30,000 


1848 


56,000 


1861 


146,414 


1836 


40,000 


1849 


44,000 


1862 


173,675 


1837 


49,000 


1850 


64,000 


1863 


108,495 


1838 


47,000 


1851 


75,000 


1864 


145,745 


1839 


39,000 


1852 


60,000 


1865 


270,000 


1840 


22,000 


1853 


75,000 







The following table shows the number of beet-sugar 
manufactories in Europe, with their production, in 
iS6s-6: — 



France, 


270,000 


tons. 


420 factories. 


18 building. 


Holland, 


5,000 




8 


u 


2 " 


Austria, 


80,000 




140 


(( 


unknown. 


ZoUverein, 


180,000 




300 


(( 


14 building. 


Russia, 


50,000 




438 


(( 


unknown. 


Belgium, 


30,000 




63 


u 


2 building. 


Poland, 


14,000 




54 


(( 


2 " 


Sweden, 


1,000 




3 


u 


unknown. 



Total, 630,000 



.36 



38 



It is stated by Mr. William Reed, an English au- 
thority, that Great Britain, which consumed 10,000 
tons of sugar in 1700, consumes at the present time 
566,000 tons. 

Consumption of sugar in the following countries in 

1S65:- 



22 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

Tons. Pounds per head. 

Great Britain, .... 566,220 't^'j^-^ 

France, .*.... 268,200 14^ 

Switzerland, .... 18,000 14! 

Zollverein, 150,000 9 

Spain and Portugal, . . 60,000 6 

Italy, Turkey, and Greece, 110,000 5^ 

Sweden and Norway, . . 15,000 5 

Poland, 10,000 4 

Austria, 50,000 2|- 

Russia, 57,000 if 

Holland, Belgium, &c., 50,000 

Total, 1,354,420 

From the two preceding tables it appears that 
Europe produced from beets in i'^6<)-6 nearly one 
half her consumption. 

The chief sugar-producing plants are the sugar-cane 
{Arundo sacchariferd)^ the beet {Beta vulgaris)^ 
the date-palm {Phoenix sylvestris)^ and the sugar- 
maple {Acer sacchari7zujn). 

The total production of sugar in the world is not 
far from 2,800,000 tons, in about the following pro- 
portions : — 

Sugar-cane, 7^*4^ P^^ cent., or 2,000,000 tons. 

Beet, 22.50 " " 630,000 " 

Palm, 5.00 " " 140,000 " 

Maple, 1.08 " " 30,000 " 

2,Soo,ooo 

It will be seen that the beet furnishes nearly one 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 23 

quarter (twenty-two and a half per cent.) of the sugar 
of the world. 

Arnold Baruchson & Co., in giving the statement 
of the London sugar market in their circular of March 
10, 1866, say, " The greatest attention ought to be 
paid by dealers to the beet-sugar crop of Europe, for 
it is clear that before long she will produce all her 
own sugar." 

There was formerly a prejudice in the minds of 
many people against beet sugar ; but it is perfectly 
well ascertained, that, if properly refined, it cannot be 
distinguished from the best sugar of sugar-cane, either 
by taste, appearance, or chemical analysis : the two 
are identical. 

William Reed, of London, says, in his recently pub- 
lished work, " History of Sugar and Sugar-yielding 
Plants," " Beet-root sugar is not only identical in every 
respect with cane sugar, but much of the Dutch lump 
sugar is actually the produce of beet root. The cir- 
cumstance cannot be too much insisted upon, that the 
seeming distinction between yellow beet sugar and 
yellow cane sugar depends on the extraneous colored 
matters present. These, when eliminated by re- 
fining, leave white materials in all respects identical. 
There is positively no difference between these two, 
whether of color or of grain. Grain or crystals can 
from either be developed to the size of the largest 
candy if desired ; in fact, at the present moment 
(1866), France is sending here large white crystals, 
produced from beet root, to compete with London, 
Bristol, and Scotch, and other crystal manufactories." 

With the exception of London, most of the principal 



24 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

cities of Europe use no other sugar than that of the 
beet ; and even in England the consumption is rapidly 
increasing, Great Britain having, in the year 1865, im- 
ported 70,000 tons, w^hich is in high favor w^ith the 
refiners. 

The "Journal des Fabricants de Sucre," in its 
issue of January 4, 1866, says, " One of the most re- 
markable and interesting facts of the past year i? the 
exportation of considerable quantities of beet sugar 
from France to England — a country that not many 
years ago trieil to stifle the beet-sugar industry in its 
infancy." 

Refen'ing to the fact that Achard, the Prusian chem- 
ist, stated that, after the first report of his discoveries in 
making sugar from the beet had been published, the 
English government, frightened by the effect it might 
have upon trade with their West India colonies, 
offered him a large sum of money to acknowledge 
publicly that he had been mistaken in the result of his 
experiments. But he indignantly refused the humili- 
ating offer, and continued to publish the results of his 
labors. 

The cost of producing from the beet a pure white 
sugar, entirely free from unpleasant smell or taste, is 
but a trifle more than is required to produce a lower 
grade. In Germany refined loaf sugar is produced 
directly from the beet. In France the brown is first 
produced, and then refined. Within the last two 
years, however, sugar has been produced of such 
purity and whiteness, that it has been sold directly 
for consumption without refining ; and there is no 
question that the peculiar odor of the beet may be 
entirely got rid of in the manufactory. 



CULIVATION OF THE BEET. 25 

Such is the present condition of beet-sugar manu- 
facture in Europe. More than one third of the sugar 
there consumed is made from beets ; and the progress 
of the industry is such, that it is perfectly clear, that 
within a few years the importation of sugar into 
Europe will entirely cease. 

It is the constant effort of the French sugar manu- 
facturer at the present day to induce government to 
reduce the duties and imposts on sugar, feeling that the 
reduction in the price consequent upon such action 
would largely increase consumption.' He does not 
ask for protection against the manufacturers of cane su- 
gar in any part of the world ; for although the industry 
is entirely the creation of the protective policy, yet un- 
der it so great an amount of skill has been acquired, 
and the cost of manufacture has consequently been so 
reduced, that he is now able to compete upon equal 
terms with the whole world. 

In France, the impost is laid upon the sugar pro- 
duced ; in Belgium, it was formerly laid upon the juice 
expressed from the beets ; but at present it is upon 
the sugar, as in France ; in Germany, upon the beets ; 
in Austria, upon the sugar produced, or upon an agreed 
estimate of the capacity of the mill ; in Russia, upon 
the hydraulic presses. It varies in the different coun- 
tries from forty to eighty-five dollars per ton. 
2 



26 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



SUPPLY OF BEETS. 



Having given an account of the rise and progress 
of the sugar industry in Europe, and demonstrated, 
as I trust, that it rests upon a firm basis, I shall pro- 
ceed to consider the feasibility of establishing it in this 
country. 

In comparing the relative positions of the two coun- 
tries, I shall draw my comparisons chiefly with 
France, as the representative of Europe, the condi- 
tions of trade there being more nearly akin to those 
of the United States than in any other country ; reli- 
able statistics in this department of industry are more 
readily procured there than elsewhere in Europe, and 
the spirit of enterprise is so great among Frenchmen, 
that whatever improvement in the manufacture of su- 
gar has been originated elsewhere, it has been seized 
upon, improved, and perfected in France. 

And first as to the ability to procure in the United 
States raw beets, of good saccharine properties, upon 
reasonable terms. 

The experience of Europe shows that beet of rich 
quality can be profitably cultivated from the Medi- 
terranean to the North Sea, and from the Atlantic to 
the heart of Russia. 

M. Mauny de Mornay says of the beet, that " all cli- 
mates seem to suit it. It flourishes in the north and 
in the south. Moisture favors its development, but 
drought does not prevent its yielding good products. 
It may be regarded as the only root cultivated in Pro- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 2^ 

vence that also succeeds In the centre of the empire." 
Tomllnson says, in his Cyclopaedia, " It has been 
shown by practical experiment and chemical analysis, 
that there Is no material difference In beet grown over 
a region extending froin the Atlantic to the Caspian 
Sen, and from the Mediterranean Sea nearly to the 
Arctic Ocean." 

The universal testimony of the che-mlsts, manufac- 
turers, and farmers, with whom I conversed, was, that 
any good wheat land was suitable for beets. The 
sugar beet is almost identical with the mangel wur- 
zel, the cultivation of which for stock has been very 
extensively and successfully practised in the Northern 
and Western States. 

Repeated analyses made In the United States of 
beets, as well as of carrots, and other sugar-containing 
vegetables, show that they contain as much sugar as 
similar vegetables In Europe. 

An analysis made of sugar beets, raised In Illinois, 
showed that they contained twelve and one half per cent. 
(i2^) of crystalllzable sugar in October, and eleven 
and four tenths per cent, in the following spring. A 
fair average percentage of sugar in the beet of France 
is eleven and one half per cent., in Germany it Is about 
thirteen per cent., and in Russia even richer. 

The quality of the beet has been very much im- 
proved within a few years, and within the last year 
extraordinary results have been attained, beets having 
been produced, containing even as high as eighteen per 
cent, of sugar. In one instance twenty-one per cent, 
was contained. 

The quality of the beet, as well as the amount ex- 



28 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

tracted from it, is largely affected by legislation and 
.the price of labor. In France the imjDost tax is laid 
on the sugar produced ; the consequence is, that the 
farmer strives for large crops, beets being sold by the 
ton, and he pays comparatively little heed to the 
quality. 

In Germany, however, the impost is laid upon the 
beet ; the cultivator consequently strives to produce a 
beet rich in sugar, paying greater attention to quality 
than to quantity. 

In France labor is comparatively high, and the 
manufacturer is contented to obtain in sugar and mo- 
lasses w^ithin tw^o per cent, of all the saccharine matter 
contained in the beet, the extraction of the last two 
per cent, being costly in labor. The remaining pulp 
is also better for cattle than when a greater proportion 
is extracted. 

In Germany, where wages are low, the pulp is more 
completely exhausted, and the manufacturer is not 
satisfied unless he obtains, in sugar and molasses, 
within from one half to one per cent, of all the existing 
saccharine matter. 

A crop of beets was raised in Illinois, two years 
ago last summer, under the following disadvantageous 
circumstances. New prairie land was broken up, and 
the seed planted on the upturned sod — a course rarely 
pursued by good farmers anywhere ; the beet requiring 
for its proper development a soil previously cultivated, 
in which the sod has been entirely rotted. The sea- 
son was extremely dry, and the yield averaged from 
ten to twelve tons only, to the acre, of beets contain- 
ing about twelve per cent, in sugar. The total cost. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 29 

including the breaking up of the land, harvesting, and 
transportation, was three dollars and forty cents per 
ton. 

In France the average yield of beets is from fifteen 
to eighteen tons per acre, frequently rising to thirty, 
and often to forty tons, vs^hile in one instance v/ithin 
my knowledge, nearly sixty-two tons were produced 
from a single acre. There is also an authentic account 
of a crop of over sixty-eight tons to an acre. In 1865 
whole districts produced thirty-two tons per acre. 

The cost of producing an acre of beets in Illinois, 
where all the conditions favor cheap cultivation, would 
not much exceed the cost of a crop of sorghum, which is 
estimated as low as thirty-five dollars, and is certainly 
not more than forty-five dollars per acre. 

According to Flint's " Agriculture of Massachu- 
setts," F. H. Williams, of Sunderland, cultivated one 
hundred and eighty-four rods, or an acre and an eighth, 
of land in broom-corn, at a cost of $38.32. This, in- 
cluding harvesting, cleaning the seed, and also eigh- 
teen dollars for manure, makes a total cost per acre 
of less that $34. 

The same authority states that Alonzo P. Good- 
ridge, of Worcester North, cultivated a crop of ruta 
bagas at a cost of $70 per acre, including $32 worth 
of manure. Yield, 43,880 pounds, or more than 19^ 
tons, to an acre. Cost, $3.59 per ton. 

Mr. Goodridge also raised a crop of sugar beets at 
the same cost, and with the same amount and value of 
manure. Yield, 38,520 pounds, or about 17I tons, to 
an acre. Cost, $4.05 per ton. 

S. D. Smith, of West Springfield, raised a crop of 



30 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

sugar beets at a cost, of $38 per acre, including $16 for 
manure. Yield, 38,070 pounds, or 17 tons, to an acre. 
Cost, $3.23 per ton. 

William Birnie, of Springfield, raised a crop of 
mangel-wurzel, in 1859, ^^^ ^2 ^cres of land, at a cost 
of $82 per acre, including $40 per acre for manure. 
Yield of mangel-wurzel, 76,000 pounds, or nearly 34 
tons per acre. There were also harvested on the same 
land 400 heads of cabbage, besides 30 two-horse loads 
of beet-tops for milch cows. Cost per ton of beets, 
excluding value of tojDS or of cabbages, $2.38. 

Mr. Birnie says, " I estimate that the improved con- 
dition of the land, after the crojD is taken off, will more 
than balance the interest on its cost for the year." 

Dr. Long, of Holyoke, raised a crop of ruta bagas, 
in i860, at a cost of $48 per acre, including $12 for 
manure. Yield, 43,608 pounds, or nearly 20 tons, 
per acre. Cost, $2.40 per ton. 

W. G. Wyman, of Worcester North, raised a crop 
of ruta bagas, at a cost of $50 per acre, including $36 
for manure. Yield, 49,600 pounds, or more than 22 
tons, per acre. Cost, $2.27 per ton. 

According to the United States Agricultural Report 
for 1864, Thomas Messinger, of Long Island, N. Y., 
raised a crop of yellow globe mangel-wurzel at a 
cost of $57 per acre, including rent and every other 
expense. Yield, 111,000 pounds, or more than 49^- 
tons, to an acre. Cost, $1.15 per ton. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 3I 

Tabular Statement of the Crops described. 







Yield 


Cost of 


Total 




Name of cultivators. 


Crops. 


per ac, 


manure 


cost per 


Cost 






tons. 


per acre. 


acre. 


per ton. 


Alonzo Flint, 


Broom-corn, 




$16 


$34 


% 


A. P. Goodridge, 


Riita baga. 


19^ 


32 


70 


3.59 


Dr. Long, 


Ruta baga. 


20 


12 


48 


2.40 


W. G. Wyman, 


Ruta baga, 


22 


36 


50 


2.27 


Wm. Birnie, 


Mangel-wurzel, 


34 


40 


82 


2.38 


Thos. Messinger, 


Mangel-wurzel, 


49i 


— 


57 


1.15 


A. P. Goodridge, 


Sugar beet. 


17i 


32 


70 


4.05 


S. D. Smith, 


Sugar beet. 
Average 


17 


16 


38 


2.23 




25.6 


26.28 


56.12 


2.72 



The average yield of roots to an acre was 25^^^- 
tons ; the cost per ton was $2.72 ; the value of manure 
applied was $26.28 ; and the average gross cost of 
cultivation was $56.12 per acre. 

The cost of cultivation, exclusive of manure, was 
$29.84 per acre, or $1.16 per ton of roots. 

The usual average cost of cultivating sorghum, 
broom-corn, mangel-wurzel, and sugar beets is about 
the same. 

The average price paid for beets in France, in 1865, 
was eighteen francs, say three dollars and fifty cents 
per ton ; but at the close of the season, some were 
bought as low as two dollars per ton. 

The average price for the last twenty years has been 
probably about three dollars and twelve cents per ton. 

An acre of land producing twenty tons of beets, 
sold at three dollars and fifty cents per ton, would 
yield seventy dollars, — and with a yield of thirty tons 
one hundred and five dollars per acre. 

What other crop could an Illinois farmer cultivate 



32 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

that would yield him such a return? The following 
table shows that the principal crops raised in the North- 
ern and Western States do not yield anything like such 

returns. 

Table 

Showing the Average Yield and Cash Value of 
Corn^ Wheats Rye^ and Oats^ on one acre of land^ 
in twenty-two of the United States^ for four years, 
from 1862 to 1865 inchisive, according to the Re- 
fort of the Agricultural Department for fune, 
1866. 

Bushels. Price per bushel. Value per acre. 

Corn, . . 32.99 per acre. $ .86 $28.57 

Wheat, . 14.34 " 1.57 22.44 

Rye, . . 15.94 " 1.03 15.98 

Oats, . . 28.56 " .58 16.52 

Average value of crops, per acre, $20.87. 

The introduction of the manufacture of beet sugar 
in the West would give to the farmer a market for 
beets at his own door, and the establishment of a man- 
ufacturing population in his vicinity would give him 
a home market for the other productions of his farm. 

In France the manufacturer contracts with the 
farmer for the culture of a certain number of acres in 
beets, at a fixed price per ton, and the crop is always 
sold in advance of its production. 

The relative cost, in the department of the Maine ct 
Loire, of raising an acre of beets, and an acre of wheat, 
by the same cultivator, and in the same year, is sho^vn 
by the following figures. It is fair to remark, however, 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



33 



that labor in the region referred to is somewhat lower 
than in the north of France, where the beet is most 
extensively cultivated. 

The total cost of cultivating and harvesting the 
beets on 58oy^^ acres of land was as follows : — 



Four PJoughings, 


$9.18 


per 


acre . . 


$5,335.34 


Manures, . . 


• 9-77 




(I 


5,676.31 


Seeds, . . . 


• -53 




(( 


310.46 


Sowing, . . . 


. 1.84 




a 


1,078.35 


Cultivation, . . 


. 3.56 




u 


2,069.10 


Harvesting, . . 


. 1.42 




u 


827.64 


Transportation, 


. 1. 18 




(( 


690.09 


Sundries, . . 


. .27 




u 


156.26 



Total, 



'27-75 



$16,143.55 



The total cost of cultivating and harvesting the 
wheat on 511x^x5- acres of land was as follows : — 

Ploughings, .... 

Manures, 

Seed-sowing, .... 
Harrowing and rolling. 
Harvesting and threshing. 
Sundries, 



$4.04 


per 


acre 


$2,065.37 


7.46 






3,817.68 


3-55 






1,818.30 


1.28 






658.98 


340 






1,745.12 


.27 






138.81 



Total, 



$10,244.26 



. . . $20.00 " 

From the above figures it appears that the cost of 
cultivating and harvesting an acre of beets was $27.75 ^ 
and of an acre of wheat $20.00. Rent of land is not 
included in either account. The cost, then, of the acre 
of beets, was nearly thirty-eight per cent, more than 
that of the acre of wheat. 
2* 



34 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

The cost of preparing and planting the ground in 
Illinois with a crop of beets would not exceed that 
of preparing and planting it with corn, for it would 
all be done by the same machinery that is now used. 
The increase of cost would arise from the greater 
amount of hand labor required on the beets to keep 
them entirely free from weeds. In France this labor 
is all done by the piece. The following are the prices 
paid for each operation subsequent to planting the 
seed upon the above-described field, containing 580x^5 
acres : — 



First weeding, . . 
Second weeding, 
Third weeding, . . 
Thinning out. 
Fulling the beets, . 
Loading into wagon. 
Putting into " silos," 



$1.18 per acre. 
1.03 " 

.90 '^ 

.33 '' 
1.43 " 

.03 per ton. 

.04 " 



At these prices the workmen make from thirty-eight 
to forty-two cents per day. Much of the work is done 
by women and children. 

On a crop of twenty tons to the acre, the cost of 
this labor would amount to $6.16 per acre. It is cer- 
tainly safe to assume that the same work would not 
cost over twenty dollars per acre in this country ; for I 
have found that the prices of labor in the United 
States are certainly not more than three times those 
prevailing in France, where a farm hand gets from 
fifty to sixty cents per day in gold. 

The usually estimated cost of cultivating beers in 
France is from four hundred and fifty to six hundred 



CULTTVATION OF THE BEET 



35 



francs per hectare, which is from thirty-five to forty- 
eight dollars per acre. This includes taxes, and also 
rent of land, which latter varies from eight to twen- 
ty-five dollars per acre per annum ; and manures, which 
are applied at a cost of from ten to fifteen dollars per acre. 
Labor, of men, horses, and oxen, including ploughing, 
harvesting, and transport of crop to the manufactory, 
does not materially exceed fifteen dollars per acre. 

I submit here the estimate of a practical French 
gentleman upon the cost of labor on an acre of beets. 



Ploughing. 
Weeding, 
Harvesting, 
Transport, 

Total, 



• $5.54 

• 3-9^ 
1.98 

. 3.96 

. $15.44 



I can see no reason, then, why the western farmer 
cannot cultivate an acre of beets at a cost certainly 
not exceeding forty-five to fifty dollars^ for the cost 
of his acre of land will not average twice the an- 
nual RENT of the acre in France ; and unless the 
present system of cultivation is materially changed, he 
will not apply fifteen dollars worth of manure to the 
acre, as they do in France. The use of labor-saving 
machines would probably enable him to diminish con- 
siderably the amount of hand labor employed, as com- 
pared with France. Even if he employ the same 
amount, and pay three times the prices paid by the 
French, not only for his laborers, but for his teams 
also, his work will not cost him over forty-five dollars 
per acre. 



36 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

Assuming that the cost of cultivating an acre of 
beets would be even as high as sixty dollars per acre, 
— which is from fifteen to twenty-five dollars more than 
the cost of an acre of sorghum, — that the crop pro- 
duced would be as great as that of a fair yield in 
France, or say twenty tons, then at four dollars per ton 
the crop would produce eighty dollars, leaving a direct 
net profit of twenty dollars per acre — a sum nearly 
as great as the gross receipts average at present, as 
shown by table on page 32. 

I have said a direct net profit of twenty dollars per 
acre, because it has been found in Europe that there Is 
also an indirect profit on the beet crop in the large 
increase of crops succeeding it, and in the cattle sup- 
ported upon the pulp ; experiments having conclusively 
proved that lands now yield from two to three times 
as much grain, and support from eight to ten times as 
many cattle, in the beet-growing districts as they did 
before the beet was introduced. The great beet-pro- 
ducing districts of France are the grain districts, and 
cattle districts also. The three branches of agriculture 
always co-exist. 

David Lee Child published, in 1840, a book, to 
which further reference will be made hereafter. He 
cultivated sugar beets in Northampton, in this state, in 
1838-9. He stated, as the result of his observation in 
France in 1836, that " the crops of beets in that country 
averaged about thirteen tons to the acre," * and that 
the result at Northampton was about the same. The 

* Since Mr. Child's visit, cultivation has not only largely in- 
creased the production per acre, but it has considerably improved 
tlie saccharine properties of the beet. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 37 

sugar contained in the French beet was ten to ten 
and one half per cent., and in those raised at North- 
ampton seven and one half to nine per cent. He 
attributed " the inferiority in richness to the inexpe- 
rience of cultivators, and mainly to improper manuring. 
The probability is, that v^ith equal culture our beets 
will surpass, in saccharine richness, those of France." 

Mr. Child estimated the cost of raising a crop of 
beets at forty-two dollars per acre. He '' had seen a 
great number of estimates based on more or less prac- 
tice ; and the great agreement which we find among 
them satisfies us that the general result may be relied 
upon. They are all very near forty dollars per acre. 
The lowest is thirty-five dollars and the highest is for- 
ty-four dollars." 

At the same time Mr. Child estimated the cost of cul- 
tivating an acre of corn at thirty-one dollars and fifty 
cer;ts, and an acre of broom corn at forty-two dollars. 
He says that the cost of cultivating an acre of beets 
and that of an acre of broom corn are exactly alike. 

This corresponds with what I have said about the 
sorghum, the cultivation of which is identical with 
that of broom corn. He says, moreover, in reference 
to the corn and broom-corn crops, — 

" But neither of these crops is an enriching or a 
cleaning crop : the beet is both, exterminating every 
noxious plant, and leaving good stuff on the ground, 
which ploughed in is equal' to a quarter or half manur- 
ing, i. e., to five or ten loads of manure per acre and 
the expense of carting it." 

In cane-sugar-producing countries the number of 
acres "tended" by a hand varies from one to five, 



38 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

according as agricultural machinery is more or less 
used. The cane in Louisiana is an eight or nine 
months' crop, and is cut before maturity. 

In the West Indies it is in cultivation, before cutting, 
for a period of from eleven to fifteen months. The 
beet grows to maturity in France in from four to five 
months ; in the United States in from three to four 
months. In France, with the aid of a horse, one hand 
vv^ill easily "tend" five acres of beets. I know of 
instances where a hand, with a horse, has done the 
whole work on five hectares, or twelve acres, of beets. 

Mr. Child, in 1S39, <^stimated that the whole num- 
ber of days' labor on an acre of beets would vary from 
fifteen to nineteen. 

In Illinois, a man, with a paw of horses, tends easily 
fifty acres of corn, and far more than that amount has 
been cultivated by one hand. I claim, therefore, that 
with the imjDroved methods of cultivation now in prac- 
tice, a man can easily cultivate six acres of beets in 
four months, and have more than half his time for 
other labors. The cultivation of six acres of cane 
would occupy a man exclusively for eight months. 
The labor, then, upon the acre of cane, is, at least, 
twice that on an acre of beets. 

It will be shown that the product, per acre, of sugar 
from beets, is greater than the general average from 
cane. 

But the advantages in faVor of beet culture do not 
stop here. The cane crop is exhausting ; it is a bad 
forerunner of other crops ; the ground on which it is 
cultivated must lie fallow at least half the time ; it 
feeds and fattens no sheep, cattle, nor swine ; conse- 



CUIvTIVATION OF THE BEET. 39 

quently, it aftbrds little material for enriching the soil. 
The beet, on the contrary, is an enriching and cleaning 
crop. It requires no fallow ; it is the very best known 
forerunner of other crops ; it feeds multitudes of stock, 
and, instead of Impoverishing the soil, constantly Im- 
proves it. 

In fact, there can be no doubt that the beet crop will 
be found to be as profitable to the farmer here as it 
unquestionably has been to the European farmer. 
The farmers of the west possess many great advan- 
tages over those of Europe. 

They have a virgin soil prodigiously productive, 
easily cultivated, and of low cost, and agricultural 
machinery with which one man will do the work of 
a dozen. Probably, notwithstanding the high price 
of labor, there is no other country in which an acre 
of land is cultivated so cheaply as in the west. 

I have conversed with a great many farmers in no 
less than twelve of the Northern and Western States, 
and have found no one who did not say that there 
would be no difficulty in getting all the beets we could 
consume for less, than four dollars per ton. The Im- 
pression among those farmers generally was, that It 
would cost from forty to fifty dollars an acre to raise a 
crop of beets ; some placed it as low as thirty-five, and 
none over fifty dollars. If these estimates should prove 
to be correct, the cost of beets, with an ordinary yield, 
would be from two to three dollars per ton. 

If It be true, then, that beets equally rich in sugar 
can be raised in the west as cheaply as in Europe, it 
only remains to inquire if that sugar can be extracted 
at a profit. 



40 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

/ 

COST OF BEET SUGAR IN FRANCE. 

There are various methods of making sugar from 
beets employed in Europe, of which the following are 
but a part : — 

The old method of rasping, pressing, treating with 
lime, evaporating in open boilers, crystallizing in large 
moulds or in pans, draining, and crushing. 

This method, in some factories, is modified by the 
introduction of the vacuum pan. In others the cen- 
trifugal machine takes the place of the slower method 
of moulds and of pans, for the purpose of throwing 
oft' the molasses. 

In other establishments, instead of using hydraulic 
presses, juice is extracted from the pulp in centrifugal 
machines in which large quantities of water are used. 

In others the '' process of diffusion," so called, by 
which the beets are cut into thin slices, and the sac- 
charine matter exhausted by steeping them in water 
in a series of vessels. 

In others the process of " maceration" is applied to 
small slices of beets, called " cossettes," which are 
dried and then steeped in water in a range of " mace- 
rators." 

In others there is a single saturation with carbonic 
acid gas after defecation. 

In others the " Maumene process," or the system of 
cold defecation, is employed. 

In others the sirup of the beets is "strengthened" 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 4I 

by the addition of sugar, and the refined loaf is pro- 
duced directly from the beet. 

In some establishments the old-fashioned " scum 
press," worked by hand, is seen, while others have 
" hydraulic scum presses." A score of different meth- 
ods are employed in various parts of Europe for the 
treatment of the " scum." 

In my judgment, however, incomparably the best 
process is the system of " double carbonitation," so 
called, of Perier and Possoz. 

This method reduces the quantity of bone black 
required to a very small amount, allowing the beets to 
be worked later in the spring, producing a larger 
percentage of sugar, of better quality and at lower 
cost, than by any other method. 

Taken in conjunction with the " hydraulic press," 
" Riedel's filter press," for the treatment of scums, 
the " carbonitation trouble," and, possibly, the " Joly 
rasp," it leaves little to be desired, and is the one that 
I heartily recommend for adoption. 

In France the expense of manufacturing raw sugar, 
including the cost of the beets, varies from three to 
four cents per pound. 

The average expenses of converting i,ooo tons of 
beets into sugar by the best processes are about as fol- 
lows, not including taxes or interest on capital : — 

1,000 tons beets (a) $3.80, $3,800 

Coal, 120 tons, (a) $3.00, 360 

Bone-black waste, 300 

Sacks for jDulp, 250, (a) 70 cts., .... 175 

Labor, 220 men 5 days (a) 70 cts., . . 77° 



42 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

Administration and salaries, .... 200 

Lighting, 50 

General expenses, insurance, .... 250 

Lime, metals, rasp blades, repairs, &c., 845 



6,750 
From this is to be deducted, say 

200 tons pulp (a $2.50, .... 500 

30 " molasses (a) $.22, . . . 660 = 1,160 

Leaving, as total cost of working 1,000 

tons beets, . $5,590 

The cost per pound of sugar produced varies in 
accordance w^ith the percentage of yield, as shown in 
the following table : — 



Yield. 


Sugar. 


Cost per pound. 


6 per cent. 


134,440 lbs. 


4.15 cts. 


7 " 


156,800 " 


3.56 " 


S " 


179,200 " 


3.10 " 



In one establishment that I visited in France, I asked 
in writing of the proprietor, to whom I had letters 
that warranted me in doing so, his percentage of sugar 
and molasses, and the cost of manufacturing. 

This gentleman had been very successful, kept his 
accounts with great accuracy, and, as he manufactured 
by the old process, I selected him as a good represen- 
tative of the old system, and asked him many ques- 
tions, which he answered with great courtesy and in 
the fullest and most satisfactory manner. His yield 
of juice was eighty per cent, of the beets worked ; 
his percentage of sugar was 6.8^^ and of molasses 
2.75 per cent, of the juice. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 43 

This gives a result of 5.48 per cent, of sugar and 
2.3 per cent, molasses on the beets worked, which was 
the poorest result with which I met. 

In reply to my question as to the expense of con- 
verting a ton of beets into sugar, I shall give a literal 
translation of his reply, stating that the estimate was 
made from the business of nine years, in which time 
he had made improvements and enlargements of his 
mill, all of which were charged to expenses : — 

" Hand labor, general expenses, ten per cent, de- 
preciation of machinery, coal, taxes, in one word, 
every expense, even those for enlargements of works 
and improvements of machinery, amount to 13.75 
francs the 1,000 kilogrammes of beets." 

This is about $3.60 per ton of beets worked. The 
average price paid for beets in the above-described 
establishment was eighteen francs the 1,000 kilo- 
grammes, or $3.43 per ton, making the total cost of 
a ton of beets and its conversion into sugar $6.03. 
From this is to be deducted the value of the pulp and 
molasses : — 

Say, for 1,000 tons of beets (a) 

$342, $3420 

Manufacturing 1,000 tons of 

beets (a) $3.60, 3,600 === $6,020 

Less, 300 tons pulp (a) $3.50, . . 500 

33 " molasses (o) $33, . 484= 984 



$5,036 
Yield of sugar at 5.48 per cent., 54.8 tons, or 132,753 
pounds, leaving the net cost of a pound of sugar 4y'^y 
cents. 



44 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

The expense for labor at 3|- francs, or sixty-six cents, 
per day (the average) was ninety-two cents per ton 
of beets worked, being thirty-five per cent, of the cost 
of converting a ton of beets into sugar, and 15.2 per 
cent, of the total cost^ including the price paid for the 
beets. This, if charged entirely to sugar, would make 
the cost of labor in a pound of sugar six mills. 

Inquiry has satisfied me that the expense of manu- 
facturing 1,000 kilogrammes, or 2,200 pounds, of beets 
into sugar in France, including in the expenses taxes, 
interest on capital, and depreciation of machinery, 
averages from eighteen to twenty francs, or $3.47 to 
$3.87 per ton of beets. In some cases it is as low as 
fifteen francs, or $2.88, per ton, and in others as high 
as twenty-two francs, or $4.25, per ton. In the case 
quoted above it was 13.75 francs, or $2.60, per ton. 

The expense for labor in the best establishments is, 
as a rule, about twenty-five per cent, of the cost of 
manufacturing. 

From these figures, which I know to be reliable, 
the cost of a pound of sugar and the proportion due 
(a labor are shown in the following table ; labor being 
reckoned at sixty-six cents per day and the cost of 
beets at $3.80 per ton ; yield of molasses at two and 
one half per cent., price $22 per ton ; pulp twent}' 
per cent., price $2.50 per ton. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



45 



Cost of Labor and Total Cost fer Pound of con- 
verting Beets into Sugar, 



Manufacturing 
cost per ton 
of beet. 


Yield. 


Cost of labor per 
poiiud. 


Total cost per 
pouud. 




(6 


per cent. 


S/u mills. 


4tV cents. 


$2.88 


h 


u 


4A " 


3A " 




u 




4 " 


3tV " 




f^ 




6A " 


4^ " 


3-47 


n 




SA " 


3A " 




(8 




4tV " 


3A " 




{^ 




7tV " 


Ai% " 


3.87 


7 




ex'iT " 


4A " 




(s 




5A " 


3A " 




(^ 




7A " 


5A " 


4.25 


7 




6A " 


4tV " 




(8 




ST^il " 


3A " 



I kno\v of ail establishment in France where the 
total cost of producing sugar, exclusive of interest on 
capital, is but thirty-six francs per 1,000 kilogrammes 
of beets, or 3yig- cents per pound of sugar. 

The yield of sugar is about eight per cent., of which 
four and one half per cent, is of a quality fit for direct 
consumption, and would bring fifteen cents per pound 
here to-day. Two and one half per cent, is of a grade 
better than No. 14, and one per cent, is equal to No. 
12. In another about the same amount and quality 
is produced at a cost of 3/0 cents per pound. 

I know of another establishment where the total 
cost, including every expense, interest on capital at 
five per cent., and depreciation of machinery at ten 
per cent., was in \^6<)-6 but the fraction of a mill 
over four cents per pound. 



46 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

The amount of sugar produced was seven and one 
half per cent. ; but the quahty was not so good as in 
the previously described cases, although the first 
quality, which amounted to four per cent, of the beets 
worked, sold readily at seventy-five francs the hun- 
dred kilogrammes, or six and one half cents per 
pound. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 47 



PROFITS ON BEET SUGAR. 

It is believed that the only material item of expense 
in the manufacture of sugar that would be greater in 
the United States than in France is the single one of v-f^^r 
labor. All others in excess of those of France are * ' " 
here more than offset by the lower cost of coal, of 
land, and of taxation. 

In relation to labor it is well known that in the 
United States the use of labor-saving machines is 
greater than in any other country, because the high 
price of labor has stimulated their invention. It is a 
fact that the number of hands employed in sugar re- 
jineries in this country is much smaller than in Euro- 
pean establishments of the same capacity of production, 
and it would doubtless be possible to effect some saving 
in that direction as compared with France in an Amer- 
ican sugar manufactory. 

The labor in a beet-sugar factory in this country 
would certainly not require a greater number of men 
than is required in a similar establishment in France. 
But, assuming that the same number would be neces- 
sary, it is proper to ascertain the exact relation that 
the price of labor bears to the cost of production. 

In Europe the number of skilled hands required in 
a sugar manufactory is very small, the great propor- 
tion of workmen being common farm laborers, who 
work in the fields in summer and in the mills in 
winter. The making of beet sugar is only carried on 
in the fall and winter months, say from October to 



48 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

February. With us, by reason of a more favorable 
climate, not only for the earlier development, but also 
for the better preservation of the beet, it could be ex- 
tended from September to March, or even later. It 
v/ill be acknowledged that these are the months in 
v^hich labor in this country can be most readily and 
reasonably procured. The probability is, inasmuch 
as the establishment of this industry in Illinois would 
permit the hiring of men by the year, that the price 
of labor per day would average considerably less than 
it does at present in the summer time, which, in the 
region I have selected, is about one dollar and fifty 
cents per day for a first-rate hand. 

One of the first merchants and manufacturers of 
France told me, that with wages at three and a half 
francs per day, the value of labor in a hundred kilo- 
grammes of sugar should not exceed four to four and 
a half francs. That is, with wages at sixty-six cents 
per day, the cost of labor should be less than four 
mills per pound. 

By the preceding tables the cost of labor at sixty- 
six cents per day varies in a pound of sugar from four 
to seven and one tenth mills in France. The average 
is not far from 5^^^ mills per pound. 

If the same amount of labor be required here as the 
average of France, and its value be three times greater, 
or two dollars per day, then the average cost of a 
pound of sugar from beets yielding seven per cent., 
will be five and one fourth, instead of four cents, per 
pound. 

I herewith present a table showing the results that 
I have no doubt can be attained in Illinois by a com- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 49 

pany with $300,000 capital, of which $200,000 shall 
be appropriated for buildings and machinery, and 
$100,000 reserved for working capital. 

Expenses. 
24,000 tons of beets, . . . ^5) $4.00 . . .$96,000 

Labor, 225 men, 150 days, (a) $1.75 per day, 50,625 

Salaries, ^O'Ooo 

Coal, 3,000 tons, . . . .^$1.50, . . . 4,500 

Sacks for pulp, 8,000 . .^$1.00,. . . 8,000 

Bone-black waste, 76^^ 

Insurance, 2,000 

Lighting, 75<^ 

Lime, metals, barrels, rasp blades, repairs, &c. 15,1 25 

$194,500 

Receipts. 

1,680 tons sugar (yield calculated at 7%), at 

$200 per ton, or S^^o- cents per pound, . $336,000 

720 tons molasses (yield calculated at 3%), 

at $10.00 per ton, or 4 cents per gallon, 7,200 

4,800 tons of pulp, at $2.00 per ton (equiva- 
lent to hay ^ $6.00 per ton), .... 9,600 

$352,800 
Less expenses, i94'5<^o 

Profit equal to 52% on capital, . . • -$15^5300 
From which is to be deducted for local 

taxes and internal revenue, .... 10,000 

Net profit, being nearly 50% on capital, . $148,300 

It will be seen that the yield of sugar is placed at 



50 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

seven per cent. I have no doubt it would be more, 
for by the method recommended, and v\^hich is in use 
in France, the yield is eight per cent. The price of 
sugar is also calculated at 8^^ cents per pound, but 
samples made by the process referred to are declared 
to be now worth an average of thirteen cents. 

The value of the molasses I have placed at four 
cents per gallon, but it will produce twenty-five per 
cent, of its weight in 90° alcohol, and the market 
value of a material that will give that result is cer- 
tainly not less than twenty-five cents per gallon.* 

I have placed the market value of the pulp at two 
dollars per ton, at which price it has been ascertained, 
by years of experiment, to be equivalent to hay at six 
dollars per ton ; therefore it cannot be said that the 
estimate is too high. 

On the other hand, beets are charged at four dollars 
per ton, upon which there is little doubt a saving of 
fifty cents per ton, or twelve thousand dollars, could be 
effected. On pages 26 to 39 the probable cost of beets 
is discussed. There can be little doubt that the actual 
cost to the farmer will rarely exceed three dollars per 
ton, even with small crops, while with twenty or thirty 
tons per acre, the larger of which is by no means an 
uncommon yield, the cost would be from one dollar 
and a half to two dollars a ton. Manufacturers could 

* The molasses contains from forty-five to fifty-five per cent, of 
crystallizable sugar. Until recently no economical method for its 
extraction was known. Last year, however, three or four estab- 
lishments were erected in Europe for that purpose, and I have 
been assured that nearly all the sugar can be extracted at a cost 
of thr'^e and a half cents per pound. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 5 1 

certainly raise their own beets at three doUars per ton, 
and probably at considerably less. 

In fact, there can be no doubt that the estimated ex- 
penses are placed sufficiently high, being at the rate 
of 4y^^ cents per pound of sugar, or i^^ cents higher 
than in the French manufactory, which it is proposed 
to copy ; while excluding the item of labor, the balance 
of expenses would be less here than in France. The 
actual expenses for labor in the French manufactory 
are less than one half a cent per pound, and i y^^y 
cents per pound has been allowed as the excess of cost 
here over that in France. 

I present below a table showing the estimated 
result, with the yield of sugar as great as in the French 
establishment, namely, eight per cent., provided it 
were sold at its present market value, say twelve and 
a half cents per poured, and the molasses at twenty-five 
dollars per ton, or ten cents per gallon, which is less 
than half its actual value for distillation. 

1,920 tons of sugar at izj cents per pound, $537,600 

720 " " molasses at $25 per ton, . . 18,000 

4,800 " '' pulp at $2 " " . . 9,600 



$565,200 
Less expenses, 194,500 

Profit (equal to 123 per cent on capital), . $370,700 
Or, deducting taxes and internal revenue, . 16,000 



118 percent, $354,700 

By the poorest methods prevailing in Europe six 



52 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

per cent, of sugar is obtained. By the best processes 
nine per cent, of sugar and two and a half per cent of 
molasses can be and repeatedly have been extracted 
from beets containing twelve and a half per cent, of 
saccharine matter, which is the amount in the beets 
raised in Illinois on the first experiment. I submit, 
therefore, the accompanying table as an indication, on 
the one hand, of a result that is possible to he re- 
alized^ and also, on the other, of a result that in the 
present state of the art is certain to be at least 
equalled. 

In this table sugar is credited at ten cents a pound, 
molasses at ten cents per gallon, and pulp at two dol- 
lars per ton. Expenses are reckoned as in the pre- 
ceding table on page 49. 

Table 
Showing tJie Products of Sugar from 34,000 Tons of 
Beets^ yielding Six., Seven^ Eighty and Nine fer 
cent.., zvith the A^noiint and Percentage of Prof t 
on a Capital of $300,000. Taxes and Internal 
Revenue 7zot deducted. 



Yield per cent. 


Yieldof J . „„ 
sugar. r«^«- 


Profit, dollars. 


Profit per cent. 


6 


1,440 


$153,660 


50A 


7 


1,680 


306,430 


(>Zi^ 


8 


1,930 


360,180 


86/i, 


9 


3,160 


313.940 


io4fo 



On pages 40 to 48 I have discussed fully the proba- 
ble cost of manufacturing beet-root sugar, and have 
arrived at the conclusion that under no circumstances, 
with a yield of seven per cent, of sugar, can the cost 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 53 

exceed 5^ cents per pound. My belief is that it would 
be less, say 4f cents at the outside. But if it cost 5^ 
cents, and sold at ten, there would still be a profit of 
ninety per cent. 

After making all allowance for contingencies that 
I can imagine as possible to arise, I have not the 
slightest doubt that there can be realized on the manu- 
fiicture a profit of at least eighty per cent, on the 
capital invested. 

In a conversation w^ith a French gentleman, a man- 
ufacturer of sugar machinery for all parts of the world, 
and who is also largely interested (and with most 
favorable results) in the manufacture not only of cane 
sugar in Martinique, but also of beet sugar in France, 
in Germany, in Poland, and in Russia, he gave it as 
his opinion, that the beet was destined to become the 
great sugar-producing vegetable of the world, for the 
reason that it can be cultivated in the temperate lati- 
tudes, in coimtries of dense population, and conse- 
quently in close proximity to the consumers of sugar. 
In his judgment sugar can be produced from it as 
cheaply in Europe or in the United States as it can be 
from cane in the West Indies or Brazil. And even if 
that position were not tenable, the expenses of trans- 
portation are so great as to render it absolutely certain 
that sugar produced from the cane cannot compete 
with beet sugars in the markets of Europe or the 
United States. 

The "Journal des Fabricants de Sucre" says, that 
"the season of 1865-6 developed the success of two 
highly important processes, namely, the immediate 
carbonitation without defecation of the juice as it 



54 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

came from the presses, and the perfection of the 
operation of the improved filter presses. In the 
factories, where these new methods were employed, 
their superiority was marked in comparison with the 
old system, by which, late in the season, it was almost, 
and oftentimes quite, impossible to make good sugar. 
Beets that could not be successfully worked by the old 
process were brought to the new establishments, 
where sugar of beautiful quality, fit for direct con- 
sumption, was readily produced. And what was still 
more remarkable, in as great proportions upon the 
amount of beets worked as in the beginning of the 
season." 

The entire success of these processes, which, seeing 
in operation, I have recommended the adoption of, 
has created the greatest excitement among the manu- 
facturers in France. The opinion is there entertained 
that their employment will not only increase the aver- 
age yield of sugar at least one per cent, on a hundred 
pounds, but also improve the quality of the sugar 
several numbers. 

The remarkable results produced by these improve- 
ments have attracted the attention of Englishmen ; and 
the probability is, that the manufacture of beet sugar 
will yet be established in Great Britain, the country 
that not only tried to strangle the industry at its birth, 
but also, when it had been successfully established on 
her own soil, gave notice to the manufacturers, through 
its government, that an excise of five cents per pound 
would be placed upon their production, u^Don the 
ground that it would interfere with the prosperit}^ of 
their West India possessions ! 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET 



55 



PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IN VARIOUS 
COUNTRIES. 



Ramon de la Sagra, in his work " Cuba en i860," 

states that the average production of sugar per acre 

from the cane in that island was 

The highest, . . 

" lowest, . . . 

Martinique average, 

" highest, 

Porto Rico average, 

Reunion lowest, 

" highest, . 

" average, . 

Mauritius, . . . 

Java, 

I will add that the product in 
Louisiana before the war was 

about 1,100 

In Germany, the average pro- 
duction from beets is about * 2,100 



1,709 


lbs 


7,980 




^^^57 




1,587 




1,900 




3,950 




1,100 




9,625 




3,200 




8,562 




4,166 





In France, average, 

" " highest, 



2,200 
5,000 



It will thus be seen that an acre of land produces 
from beets a larger average amount of sugar in France 
and Germany than is produced from cane in Cuba, 
Martinique, or Louisiana. In Mauritius the system 
of cultivation is good, but it is a matter of notoriety 
that the sugar of Mauritius cannot compete with beet 



56 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

sugar in France, notwithstanding it has an advantage 
over the latter in the French ports of five francs the 
hundred kilogrammes, or 4.3 mills per pound. 

M. De la Sagra gives the following figures, shovs^- 
ing the amount of sugar produced to a " hand " upon 
several of the best plantations in Cuba : — 

La Ponina, . 4,238 lbs. Flor de Cuba, 6,430 lbs. 

Conchita, . 4,413 " Delta, . . 7,063 " 

St. Martin, . 4,512 " Las Canas, . 13,327 " 

On some well-ordered estates, both in France and 
in Germany, the production of sugar to a " hand" ex- 
ceeds 14,000 pounds. 

The production of sugar at Martinique in 1832 was 
30,000 tons. In 1850, in consequence of emancipa- 
tion, it fell to 15,000 tons. In 1S64, the production 
again reached 30,000 tons. Emancipation produced 
a similar result in Guadaloupe. In Reunion, by rea- 
son of immense importations of Coolie labor, produc- 
tion has increased fourfold since emancipation ; but 
intelligent observers see that Coolie labor is but another 
form of slavery, for which reason the supply must 
cease. It does not, like slavery, reproduce laborers, 
for ninety to ninety-five per cent, of the Coolies are 
males. The increased production is also due to an 
extended area of cultivation, and not, as in Mauri- 
tius, to improved methods of culture. In fact, some 
of the most intelligent planters in several of the French 
colonies have abandoned sugar cane, and cultivate 
other crops. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 57 



ATTEMPTS TO MANUFACTURE BEET 
SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Several attempts on a very small scale have been 
made, within the last thirty years, to manufacture beet 
sugar in this country ; but with one exception, so far 
as I can learn, they were made when the industry was 
in its infancy, and when prices were much lower than 
they are at present, or are now likely to be. 

Those attempts were not crowned with commercial 
success ; but the results produced were such as to 
demonstrate, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that beet 
sugar can now be made in this country with the most 
absolute certainty of success. 

The attempt, of which there is now to be obtained 
the most complete published account,* was made at 
Northampton, in the valley of the Connecticut, in the 
years 1838-9, by David Lee Child, and the "North- 
ampton Beet-sugar Company." The company were 
the successors of David Lee Child, to whom the Massa- 
chusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, at their sec- 
ond exhibition, in 1839, awarded a silver medal. 

In their report the Association say, " The crude 
or raw sugar is well made, dry, and of good grain. 
The refined shows that this article can be made of as 
good quality as sugar from the cane." 

On the 5th of December, 1839, ^^^^ " Massachusetts 

* The Culture of the Beet, and Manufacture of Beet Sugar, by 
David Lee Child, 1840. 

3* 



58 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

Agricultural Society" awarded a premium of one 
hundred dollars to the " Northampton Beet-sugar 
Company, for beet sugar." 

On the 13th of November, 1839, Hon. Levi Lincoln, 
president of the " Worcester County Agricultural So- 
ciety," addressed a letter to Mr. Child, w^ho had sent 
him a box of sugar for exhibition. The box arrived 
too late ; but the following extract from Mr. Lincoln's 
letter indicates the quality of the sugar : " Availing 
of your kind permission, samples of the sugar were 
submitted to the inspection of several gentlemen. 
The brow7i sugar was found to be pure, very sweet, 
and entirely free from any bad taste, and its quality, in 
every respect, was highly satisfactory. 

" The refined or lump sugar seemed not so well gran- 
ulated as is desirable. Still we are well satisfied that, 
as an experiment in the manufacture, it is highly en- 
couraging, and we all felt that the country was largely 
indebted to your intelligence and enterprise in demon- 
strating, beyond all question, how entirely this appli- 
cation of domestic industry is at her command." 

In May, 1839, -^^- Child received a letter from 
Martial Duroy, of Boston, confectioner, from which 
the following is an extract : — 

" Having, while in France, heard the confectioners 
in general deprecate the use of beet sugar in their 
work, I was naturally a little prejudiced against it 
when I was called upon by you to make some confec- 
tionery for the ' Ladies' Anti-slavery Fair.' I was 
pleased to find, upon trial, that your raw sugar was 
extremely easy to clarify, and that it grained freely. 
These attributes of good and pure sugar reconciled 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 59 

me at once with it, and I made a variety of confection- 
ery as easily and as handsome as with tiie best Ha- 
vana. But its power of crystalHzation is particularly 
interesting, as it is upon this that depends its successftil 
transformation into loaf sugar ; and as far as a pretty 
considerable experience goes to establish it, I think 
beet sugar obtained by your process does crystallize, 
both easily and abundantly, forming at will coarse or 
fine grains, peculiarly brilliant, and giving, by far, a 
smaller quantity of molasses in the process of refining 
than cane sugar of a corresponding quality. I found 
also the molasses of a pleasant taste, and well adapted 
in its chemical composition to culinary purposes." 

Mr. Child says that the best result he obtained from 
one hundred pounds of beets was seven pounds of 
sugar and three and one third of molasses ; that 
" the sugar was of excellent quality, free, even in its 
raw state, from any bad taste, and of a pure and spar- 
kling white when refined. Old and extensive dealers 
have pronounced it in both states capable of success- 
ful competition with any sugars in the market." 

The quantity made was about 1300 pounds. 

Mr. Child satisfied himself, from the result of the 
labors of 1838-9, that " the raw sugar can be ob- 
tained without an}^ bad taste, and fit for immediate 
consumption ; that American beets, though gener- 
ally inferior to the European in saccharine richness, 
can, by suitable culture, be made inferior to none." 

He says, " The sugar grained in a few hours ; 
drained well and is not inferior in flavor or appear- 
ance to the finest West Indies Muscovadoes. The 
quality of the molasses has been a matter of utter sur- 



6o BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

iDi'ise to US. In France the molasses is considered of 
no value except for feeding to animals or for distilling, 
and it sells for four or five cents per gallon. The 
molasses from the sugar in question is of a bright 
amber color, and so pure and pleasant as to be pre- 
ferred by many to any but sugar bakers'." He says, 
" It will be readily conceived that a small establish- 
ment, dependent upon farmers for material, paying for 
it twice the cost of its production, and executing by 
hand several heavy and tedious operations, which 
ought to be performed by steam, water, or horse 
power, cannot furnish accurate data for determining 
the expense of making beet sugar. The actual cost 
when the material was good has been eleven cents 
per pound, the pulp and manure not taken into ac- 
count. We are of opinion that, with proper and suf- 
ficient means, beet sugar may be manufactured in the 
United States at four cents per pound. When the 
manufacture shall have become domesticated among 
us, it will probably be produced at a cost less than 
that." 

In relation to the effect of a beet crop on succeed- 
ing crops, Mr. Child says, " In Northampton wheat 
has succeeded beets the present season with rather 
striking success. A farmer let a field abutting on 
Connecticut River on shares. On a part of it he 
raised beets last year, and on the other Indian corn. 
The whole was equally manured. The corn yielded 
seventy-five bushels to the acre, and the beets were 
tolerably weeded. The wheat was harvested, and his 
share delivered in the barn without any attention to 
it on his part. In due time a laborer was employed 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 6l 

to thrash it. This person, after thrashing a quantity, 
observed to his employer that the wheat on one side 
of the loft thrashed easier, and had a better berry and 
brighter straw, than on the other. Upon examination 
it was found that the former had been produced upon 
the beet, and the latter upon the corn, section of the 
field, but with this difference, that the beet grew near- 
est to the river, where it is considered that wheat is 
most likely to blast. We had the advantage of exam- 
ining these wheats, and the difference was clearly such 
as the thrasher had stated. The proprietor found a 
difference of three and a half pounds per bushel in 
the weight. We presume that the difference in the 
flour would be found much greater, because, the grains 
of the inferior wheat being smaller, it would require 
more of them to fill a measure ; and as the shrunk 
grains have the same quantity of skin as the large, 
and as it is the skins which make bran, it follows 
that the superiority remarked would appear still 
more signally if the two samples were ground and 
bolted." 

Mr. Child, in a note, remarks, "Mr. Harrison O. 
Apthorp, of Northampton, — one of the earliest culti- 
vators of the sugar beet in this country, — has informed 
us of the remarkable growth of herdsgrass as a succes- 
sor of sugar beets on his grounds. The crop was pro- 
nounced by the oldest farmers in Northampton village 
superior to any of the kind they had ever seen in the 
meadoAvs." 

Several years ago, beet sugar, of very fine quality, 
was made by the society of Shakers at Enfield, but 
upon too small a scale, and by too crude a method, to 



62 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

ascertain fairly the price at which it could be pro- 
duced. 

In 1863-4 the brothers Gennert, of New York, con- 
ceived the idea of manufacturing beet sugar. Air. 
Thomas Gennert visited Europe for the purpose of 
studying the methods there employed. Upon his 
return, the firm selected the prairie lands in the town 
of Chatsworth, Livingston County, Illinois, jDur- 
chased 2300 acres, erected buildings, and commenced 
the cultivation of beets. In process of time the}^ 
gathered their crop, which, owing to the drought, and 
also to the unfavorable method of planting, yielded 
only ten or twelve tons to the acre. The beets were of 
excellent saccharine properties, containing twelve and 
a half per cent, in sugar. The heavy outlay required 
exhausted their means ; or, to use their own words, 
" We started on too large a scale for our purse, which 
gave out too soon, before the machinery which was 
required for a successful working was finished ; but 
experience has shown us sufficiently that sugar enough 
is contained in the beets, and that it can be got out. 
With our imperfect, or rather incomplete, machinery, 
we extracted seven per cent, in melado. Those beets 
would average, with complete machinery, nine per 
cent." 

The Messrs. Gennert have put their property into 
a stock company, called the " Germania Sugar Com- 
pany," and have six hundred acres of land in cultiva- 
tion with beets this season. 

I submit their estimate of the profits of working 
one hundred tons of beets per day, with the following 
productions of sugar, on a capital of $200,000 : — 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 6^ 



6 per cent., . 


. 73 per cent, profit. 


7 " 


. 91 " " 


8 


. 109 " " 


9 " 


. 127 " " 



General Advantages of Beet-sugar Manu- 
facture. 

The "Journal des Fabricants de Sucre," in its issue 
of December 8, 1864, says, "We find that the abo- 
lition, of slavery in America and the West India 
Islands, which seems to us the inevitable result of 
the America war, at the same time that it increases 
the demand for sugar must diminish the supply about 
500,000 tons. The production of Louisiana will be de- 
stroyed, that of Cuba diminished one half or one third, 
and that of Brazil will be reduced. How is this defi- 
ciency to be supplied ? The consumption of the United 
States is nearly as large as that of Great Britain, and 
they will probably be driven by necessity to manufac- 
ture sugar from the beet, the processes for which they 
can learn of Europe. As- for France, Belgium, and 
Germany, they can easily double or triple their pro- 
duction ; for it does not require long preparation of 
the soil to produce beets. Capital is abundant for 
such an enterprise ; and even at the present rate of 
increase, production doubles every ten years." 

"England may fear that the manufacture of beet 
sugar in Great Britain would prejudice her colonial 
interests ; but some of her statesmen foresee its intro- 
duction." The editor predicts that the effect of the 
change in the sources of supply would be to dimin- 



6^ 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



ish, and not to enhance, the price of sugars. He goes 
on to say, " The North and the South may fight as 
long as they like. The 4,000,000 slaves in the South- 
ern States may be freed, the 400,000 negroes in Cuba 
may also be emancipated, as well as those of Brazil. 
The African slave trade may stop, drought and insects 
may continue to ravage the sugar plantations of Re- 
union and Mauritius, but sugar v\^ill not become scarce 
in Europe for all that. We shall continue to be sup- 
plied by our own admirable industry, whose advan- 
tages and development we have set forth." 

In a later issue the probability is discussed of the 
United States continuing to import annually 300,000 
to 400,000 tons of sugar from Cuba and Brazil, " when 
they have the ability to supply all their v/ants with 
beet sugar from their own soil, hot only with certainty 
of profit to the manufacturer, under the existing tariff, 
but also with advantage to the whole country, because 
of the unreliability of the cane crop of Louisiana, 
which never ripens, and which at any rate is certain to 
be paralyzed for the next ten years. 

" But even if the duties on foreign sugars should 
be abolished, the advantage would be on the side of 
the beet-sugar manufacturer, who will probably have 
less need of protection than the Louisiana planter. 

" The people of the Northern States will not long 
defer the cultivation of a plant which contains so much 
sugar that it will soon teach them to forget that which 
was formerly produced upon the banks of the Missis- 
sippi. As to the competition of Cuban and Brazilian su- 
gars, they have no more cause to fear it than have the 
beet-sugar makers of France and Germany, where the 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 65 

economical conditions are far less favorable than those 
of the Northern and Western States." 

The beet-sugar industry has been of vast benefit to 
Europe. Notwithstanding the high protective policy 
to which it owes its existence, and which, as a matter of 
course, was pursued for a time at the expense of the 
public, which paid higher for sugar than it would oth- 
erwise have done, yet there is no question that sugars 
have been cheaper throughout the world for the past 
fifteen years than they would have been had the in- 
dustry not existed. 

Formerly the production of sugar was a monopoly 
confined to the tropics, where its possession, combined 
with the cheapness of land and the system of slavery, 
fostered in planters and manufacturers an extrava- 
gant, shiftless, and costly method of manufacture. 

The vast improvements that science has brought to 
bear on the chemistry and mechanics of beet-sugar pro- 
duction in Europe have awakened the planters and 
manufacturers of the tropics to the necessity for prog- 
ress, if they desire to retain their supremacy. 

Almost all the improvements made in cane-sugar 
manufacture in the last fifteen years owe their origin 
to the beet-sugar establishments of France and Ger- 
many. 

The effects produced upon agriculture in Europe by 
the cultivation of beets for sugar and alcohol have 
been astounding, and the importance of the interest is 
now everywhere acknowledged. 

In the cane-sugar countries upon the territory sur- 
rounding a sugar establishment no crop is to be seen 
but the cane, while cattle and sheep are few. In the 



66 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

sugar districts of Europe, on the contrary, the fields in 
the vicinity of a sugar manufactory are covered with 
the greatest diversity of crops, among which are beets, 
wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, rape, flax, tobacco, and 
all the cultivated grasses. Every field is cultivated 
close up to the road-side, and the stables are filled with 
fire cattle, sheep, horses, and swine. 

No farmer needs to be told which system is the best 
and most enduring. 

M. Dureau, author of several valuable works on 
beet sugar, and also the editor of the "Journal des 
Fabricants de Sucre," says " The cultivation of the 
beet is getting to be highly popular. 

" The president of an agricultural society is sure to 
gain all hearts when he talks about beets. No agri- 
cultural newspaper can abstain from entertaining its 
readers with accounts of the precious plant, and there 
is no farmer who does not introduce it into his fields 
with the view of its conversion either into sugar or 
alcohol. Everybody sings its praises ; and surely 
none have a better right to join in the concert than we, 
who have always been its advocates for the sake of the 
industry with which it is allied." 

A French writer, after having demonstrated the im- 
portance of the beet-sugar industry to agriculture, in 
urging its extension, says, " Who would believe that 
England, with her poor soil, her wet climate, and her 
pale sun, could produce crops of grain double ours, 
and that the yield of her fields surpassed that of the 
luxuriant plains of Lombardy ? The perfection of her 
agriculture explains this wonderful production. So 
does the progress of the manufacture of beet sugar ex- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 6/ 

plain how the cultivator of the north can extract as 
much sugar from a hectare of his cold and wet land, 
as the indolent Creole from the rich soil of the Antilles, 
bathed in sweet odors and in sunshine." 

The basis of the agriculture of England is the turnip. 
In the best cultivated districts of France, it is the beet. 
M. Barral, a celebrated writer on agriculture, says, 
'^ I did not find any good crops except in those coun- 
tiies where an industrial culture prevailed, which is 
especially the case in those where the beet is culti- 
vated." 

Another writer says, " Of all species of industry 
which it is desirable to see extended in France, the 
manufacture of sugar and alcohol occupies the first 
rank. Branches of industry which are pursued in the 
winter deserve to be supported, because they give em- 
ployment to laborers who work in the fields in sum- 
mer, and thereby enable them to increase the amount 
of their yearly wages." 

Another writer says, that " all cultivators and econ- 
omists are unanimous in recommending the cultivation 
of the sugar-producing plant, which is the source of 
deep tillage, heavy manuring, and increased produc- 
tion. No one believes now that it exhausts and im- 
poverishes the soil, or that it hurts other crops : these 
are the prejudices of a by-gone age, which science 
and practice have banished, to set up in their place a 
recognition of benefits of the highest order produced 
by the culture of the beet." 

M. Bureau says, " The manufacture of beet sugar 
was formerly charged with being a local industry. 
To-day it no longer deserves that reproach, for it is not 



68 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

alone in the north of France that it is pursued ; but it 
has penetrated into the east, the west, and the south, 
— into Germany, Russia, Italy, Austria, Spain — every- 
where." 

Another says, that " everj^where the beet is culti- 
vated in France, land advances in value, and the 
wages of workmen take the same direction." 

" All Europe, though France has contributed the 
largest and most glorious part towards the accom- 
plishment of the result, is destined to become a great 
sugar-producing country, not less important than those 
where they cultivate the cane, which many believed to 
be the only plant suitable for the production of sugar, 
that precious food, of which people of the present age 
are such large consumers. Why should not sugar, 
which the mysterious forces of nature have secreted in 
the beet, be extracted from it, and the soil, prepared for 
new harvests, and rendered doubly fertile by the thor- 
ough cultivation it demands, furnish increasing quan- 
tities of food for man, and for beast? It is the triumph 
of industry." 

L'Echo Agricole says, that " all farmers who ob- 
tain first prizes at the agricultural exhibitions are 
either sugar manufacturers, distillers, or cultivators of 
the beet. Those who have adopted this branch of 
agriculture, either as proprietors or tenants, have really 
obtained astonishing results. They would be surprised 
if they did not carry off all the first prizes at the pub- 
lic exhibitions, and w^ere consequently mentioned in 
the official reports of the government." 

M. Vallerand, who took the first prize in the De- 
partment of Aisne, bought, in 1853, a farm of eight 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



69 



hundred and thirty-two acres, the sales of produce 
from which amounted to $8,000. In 1859 ^^ produced 
$41,200. M. Dargent, who took the first prize in the 
Department of Seine Inferieure, cultivated only fiftj; 
acres. He so increased the production of this farm 
that he obtained 154,000 pounds, or 68 tons and 168 
pounds, of beets from a single acre. His yield of wheat 
was 43^ bushels, and of oats 59^ bushels, to an acre. 

M. Hary, Pas de Calais, obtained from two hundred 
and ninety-five acres 5,225 bushels of wheat, 2,500 
tons of beets, and fattened 150 head of cattle. 

The culture of the beet involves the necessity of 
deep ploughing, heavy manuring, and thorough weed- 
ing. The pulp from which the juice is extracted in 
the manufacture is an excellent food for cattle, the 
number of which has been increased, in the districts 
devoted to that industry, from eight to ten fold since 
the introduction of sugar making. 

The cattle furnish an immense amount of manure, 
which, applied to the deeply-ploughed and well-weeded 
beet lands, enhances their productiveness for the cereal 
crops. 

In 1853, when the emperor and empress came to 
Valenciennes, a triumphal arch was erected, with the 
following inscription : — 



Sugar Manufacture. 

Napoleon I. who created it. Napoleon III. who protected it. 



Before the manufacture of beet 
sugar, the arrondissement of 
Valenciennes, produced 695,750 
bushels of wheat, and fattened 
700 oxen. 



Since the manufacture of beet 
sugar was introduced, the arron- 
dissement of Valenciennes pro- 
duces 1,157,750 bushels of wheat, 
and fattens 11,500 oxen. 



70 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

The brothers Fievet have a model farm of 552 acres 
at Masny, which is considered the best in France. 
They are sugar manufacturers, and fatten 800 head of 
cattle and 3,000 sheep every year. I visited there last 
w^inter, and spent a day in their manufactories and on 
their farm. They attribute their success as cultivators 
to the immense amount of manure that the beet pulp 
enables them to make, to the improved condition of 
the soil, and also to the increased amount of profitable 
service of the land, consequent upon beet culture, no 
fallow^s being required. 

They have cultivated the farm for thirteen years : the 
crops are beet, wheat, oats, rye, and hay. I shall 
give some of the results of the eleven years preced- 
ing 1864. The average amount of land in oats had 
been thirty acres. In 1853 the crop was 45^ bushels, 
in 1863 nearly 92 J bushels, and the average for the 
whole time within a fraction of 70 bushels to the acre. 

The crop of straw increased in like proportion, and 
averaged two tons to an acre. In 1863 it was nearly 
three tons. 

The crops of rye improved in a still greater ratio — 
increasing from 17 to 34^ bushels per acre, averaging 
nearly 30 bushels, with two tons of straw to the acre. 

The average crops on 156 acres of wheat had been 
over 36^ bushels to the acre. 

Parts of the land had sometimes produced 67I bush- 
els to the acre, and no portion had ever yielded less 
than 20^- bushels. The yield of hay had been over 
three tons ; and of beets twenty tons to an acre. 

In 1865, thirty, thirty-five, and even forty tons of 
beets were raised on an acre. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



7^ 



As to the cost of producing these crops, the Messrs. 
Fievet stated that the thorough cultivation of the 
ground for beets reduced the cost of cultivating suc- 
ceeding crops enormously.* 

Thus, after deducting the proceeds of the straws, 
their oats cost them less than thirty cents, their wheat 
less than sixty cents, and their rye less than thirty- 
eight cents, per bushel. 

This they attribute to underdraining, to the use on the 
beet crop of lime, either pure or the carbonate of lime 
from the filter presses of the factory, to the liberal ap- 
plication of other manures, to deep ploughing, thorough 
weeding, and cultivation. The grain crops are not 
manured, and the ground is so thoroughly prepared 



* The subjoined table shows approximately the average yield of 
certain crops per acre in twenty-three of the United States, in the 
year 1865, according to the Report of the Department of Ag- 
riculture for January, 1866 : — 



Crops. 



Hig-hest average 
yield. 



Lowest average 
yield. 



Wheat, 
Kye, . . 
Barley, 
Oats, . . 
Corn, . . 
Buckwheat, 
Potatoes, . 
Tobacco, 16 St 
Hay, . 
Sorghum molasses, 
18 States, 



ates, 



13^ bush.l 


15 « 




23a ' 




311 « 




36^ « 




19^ ' 




113 ' 




906 lbs. 


li tons. 


110| gals. 



Minnesota, 

Kansas, 

Vermont, 

Minnesota, 

Nebraska, 

Nebraska, 

Minnesota, 

Conn. L 

Nebraska, 

Kansas, 



20| 

23' 

281 

4U 

46^ 

261 

197 

,350 

2 

129 



Kentucky, 

Delaware, 

Mass. 

Delaware, 

Delaware, 

Delaware, 

Kentucky, 

Kansas, 

Maine, 

New York, 



n 

7 

19^ 
12 
16i 
lOi 
59i 
533 
1 

75 



The productions of the farm at Masny vastly exceed those 
of the States named. The explanation is to be found not in the 
soil or the climate, but solely in the cultivation. 



72 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

by the beet for succeeding crops, that a single light 
ploughing suffices for the grain, which is all sowed in 
drills by a machine. 

Before the introduction of the sugar industry into 
France, workmen in the country, by reason of a lack 
of employment, were so constantly emigrating to the 
city, that government instituted inquiries to ascertain 
the cause, and also the best method of preventing it. 
Now, the natural tendency of workmen to seek the 
capital is not noticed in the sugar-producing districts, 
where the industry gives ample and w^ell-paid employ- 
ment to all, both in summer and in winter, and where 
crime and pauperism have sensibly diminished. 

Agriculture was looked upon as the calling of peas- 
ants, requiring little intelligence and no education. It 
is far otherwise now, and to be successful as a farmer 
involves the necessity of having a good education. 
The introduction of sugar-making into France, and 
the intimate relation between that industry and agri- 
culture, called for improved methods of culture, and a 
more intelligent and scientific application of labor. 
Intelligence and education were decentralized for the 
benefit of the whole country ; capital also lent its 
powerful aid, and agriculture made rapid progress, 
while the condition of the laborers also was materially 
improved. 

Louis Napoleon, the present emperor of the 
French, when he was imprisoned at Ham, in 1843, 
said of the beet-sugar industry, in his " Analyse de la 
Question des Sucres," " It retains workmen in the coun- 
try, and gives them employment in the dullest months 



. CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 73 

of the year ; it diffuses among the agricultural classes 
good methods of culture, calling to their aid industrial 
science and the arts of practical chemistry and me- 
chanics. It multiplies the centres of labor. It pro- 
motes, in consequence, those sound principles upon 
which rest the organization of society and the security 
of governments ; for the prosperity of a people is the 
basis of public order. * * * 

" Wherever the beet is cultivated, the value of land 
is enhanced, the wages of the workmen are increased, 
and the general prosperity is promoted." 

In another place the same author puts the following 
words in the mouth of the sugar industry : " Respect 
me, for I improve the soil. I make land fertile, which, 
without me, would be uncultivated. I give employ- 
ment to laborers, who otherwise would be idle. I 
solve one of the greatest problems of modern society. 
I organize and elevate labor." 

The conclusions to which I have arrived are, — 

That the skill, which is the result of the experience 
of more than a century, and which has made France 
independent of foreign countries for her supply of 
sugar, is available for us to-day. 

That the manufacture of beet sugar can be success- 
fully transplanted from France to the United States. 

That sugar can be produced in this country from 
the beet nearly if not quite as cheaply as it can be 
from the cane in Cuba, or any other country. 

That the protection of transportation alone is suf- 
ficient to render it impossible for the sugar of tropical 
4 



74 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

climates to compete with beet sugar in the United 
States. 

That as the climate of the Southern States does not 
permit the cane to ripen, and as the yield of sugar 
from unripe cane is comparatively small, it is impossi- 
ble to make sugar from cane in the United States so 
cheaply as it can be made from beets. 

And that at present prices beet sugar can be manu- 
factured in this country at a profit of from eighty to 
one hundred per cent. 

By the new internal revenue law beet sugar enjoys 
a protection over the sugar of the cane of from one to 
two cents per pound in currency. 

Duties on foreign sugars are from three to four and 
a half cents per pound in gold. 

The necessities of government, and the very ap- 
parent advantages arising from introducing the manu- 
facture of beet sugar into this country, render it 
probable that the protection now accorded will be 
maintained for the present. 

The cost of transportation from the seaboard to Il- 
linois, is an additional protection on sugar raised in 
Illinois of about one cent per pound. 

The amount of beets raised in France in 1865 could 
not have been, on 297,000 acres of land, less than 
5,000,000 tons, producing at least 1,000,000 tons of 
pulp — an amount sufficient to feed 90,000 cattle or 
nearly 1,000,000 sheep for one year, or to fatten in the 
winter months nearly three times that number. It 
also furnished agriculture with more than 1,500,000 
tons of manure. In an agricultural point of view, the 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 75 

effect produced by the culture of so much land in 
beets, and the application of the manure of so many 
cattle, with the consequent increase in the amount and 
value of subsequent crops, is perfectly apparent. The 
quality of wheat raised after beets is better than that 
usually produced ; the ears are larger and heavier, the 
straw stronger, and not so liable to lodge. The berry 
is larger and brighter ; its specific gravity is also 
greater, weighing from tw^o to three pounds per bushel 
more than ordinary wheat. 

But these effects are not all, even of those having an 
agricultural bearing, which the great industry pro- 
duces. They are not confined to the comparatively 
narrow circle that surrounds the factory, in which are 
expended for beets and for labor large sums that foster 
industry, and scatter plenty in the surrounding vil- 
lages. The distribution of these large amounts for 
labor and for the crop opens a better market for the 
productions of other branches of industry, agri- 
cultural, mechanical, manufacturing, mining, and 
commercial. 

To till the land and to consume the pulp, jnan}^ 
horses, as well as vast numbers of cattle and sheep, are 
required. These are purchased from other sections, 
for the departments in which the beet is cultivated are 
not grazing districts in which cattle are raised^ but 
they are preeminently distinguished for supporting 
and fattening cattle. 

The improved condition of the 70,000 laborers 
engaged in this industry, one fifth of whom are wo- 
men and children, makes them larger consumers of 
tea, coffee, meat, clothing, — of all the necessaries of 



76 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

life. Their enlarged means place within their reach 
many hitherto unattainable luxuries. 

The industry also calls into existence many estab- 
lishments for the manufacture of agricultural tools. 
It gives employment to chemists and engineers ; to 
machinists, founders, carpenters, blacksmiths, cop- 
persmiths, wheelwrights, and plumbers ; to woollen 
and linen manufacturers for the sacks it requires. It 
is a large consumer of coal, of iron, and of other 
metals, products of the mine. It contributes largely 
to the support of railroads and canals. It adds its 
quota to the extension of commerce. Finally, it 
pays to government an excise tax on sugar and al- 
cohol of more than $27,000,000 per annum, without 
taking into account other taxes, state and local, that 
are assessed on the $45,000,000 that it has invested in 
buildings and machinery. 

It has not only added immensely to the extent of 
arable land, but has largely increased the productive- 
ness and value of that already cultivated. It has 
enabled France to produce more corn at less cost than 
she ever did before, and kept down the prices of all 
grains, of beef, and of mutton. At the same time it 
produces for man sugar, meat, bread, alcohol, potash, 
and soda ; it furnishes nutritious food for cattle, sheep, 
and swine, together with hay and grain for the horse. 
In the opinion of eminent French statesmen, it has 
twice, within fifteen years, saved France from a 
famine. 

The historian Thiers has called it " the Providence 
of the empire." 



cultivation of the beet. ^7 

Effect of its Introduction into the United 

States. 

The effect of its introduction into the United States 
would be to produce results correspondingly greater 
than have attended it in Europe, for here the con- 
sumption of sugar per capita is nearly four times 
greater, and the value of lands is not a quarter of those 
in continental Europe, w^hile they are by nature far 
richer and more easily cultivated. The supply of coal 
is unlimited. The vast distances over w^hich many 
farmers are obliged to transport their produce render 
it oftentimes impossible to dispose of their more bulky 
crops at a profit. The introduction of sugar-making 
would give them another and most profitable crop, for 
which they would have a home market. It would 
enlarge the local demand for other farm produce by 
interspersing a manufacturing with an agricultural 
population, to the great advantage of both. It would 
go far to change the present wasteful and necessa- 
rily unenduring system of agriculture, and to substi- 
tute for it another, founded upon more correct princi- 
ples — a system self-sustaining and improving, rather 
than suicidal and degenerating. 

The gold value of sugars imported into this country 
is nearly $80,000,000 per annum. 

The annual consumption of sugar in the United 
States before the war was over 450,000 tons. 

There is no doubt that within twenty years it will 
be more than 1,000,000 tons, for with the customary 
increase of population and the consumption per head 
that existed before the war, that amount would be re- 
quired. 



78 BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 

With a proper rotation of crops the production of 
that amount of sugar involves the cultivation of 
4,000,000 acres of land, of which 1,000,000 would be 
in beets, the base of the system. It would give em- 
ployment the year round, in the fields and in the mills, 
to more than 125,000 men, women, and children. It 
would require $100,000,000 to be expended in build- 
ings and machinery. It would disburse annually 
$100,000,000 for labor and materials. It would re- 
quire each year more than 1,500,000 tons of coal. It 
would fatten every year 400,000 head of cattle, or 
4,000,000 sheep. 

There is hardly an interest that it would injure, 
while it would be difficult to find one that would con- 
fer so many, so great, and so general advantages upon 
the country. It is destined to become one of the most 
important branches of national industry. 



79 



PART II 



THE BEET AND ITS CULTIVATION. 

The beet is a half-hardy, biennial plant ; its roots 
attain their full size the first year, but will not survive 
our winters in the open ground. Seeds are produced 
from transplanted roots, after which the plant dies. 

Analysis of the Beet^ accordmg" to Professor Payen. 

Per cent. 

Water, 83.5 

Sugar in solution, 10.5 

Cellulose and pectose, 8 

Albumen, caseine, and nitrogenous matters, . . 1.5 
Malic acid ; pectine ; gummy substances ; fatty, 
aromatic, and coloring matters ; essential oil ; 
chlorophylle ; asparamide ; oxalate and phos- 
phate of lime; phosphate of magnesia ; silicate, 
nitrate, sulphate, and oxalate of potash ; ox- 
alate of soda ; chloride of sodium and potassi- 
um ; pectate of lime, potash, and soda ; sulphur, 
silica, and oxide of iron, 3.7 

100. 



So BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



Varieties of the Beet. 

There are many different varieties, of which I shall 
describe a few of those employed for manufacturing 
and agricultural purposes. 

LONG RED MANGEL-WURZEL. 

Red Mangel-wurzel. — Marbled Field Beet. — Laioson. 

Burr describes this beet as follows : " Root fusiform, 
contracted at the crown, which in the genuine variety 
rises six or eight inches above the surface of the 
ground. Size large, when grown in good soil ; often 
measuring eighteen inches in length and six or seven 
inches in diameter. Skin below ground purplish-rose ; 
brownish-red where exposed to the air and light. 
Leaves green ; the stems and nerves washed or stained 
with rose-red. Flesh white, zoned and clouded with 
diflerent shades of red. 

" The long red mangel-wurzel is hardy ; keeps well ; 
grows rapidly ; is very productive, and in this country 
is more generally cultivated for agricultural purposes 
than any other variety. According to Lawson, the 
marbled or mixed color of its flesh seems particularly 
liable to vary : in some specimens it is almost of a 
uniform red, while in others the red is scarcely, and 
often not at all, perceptible. These variations of color 
are, however, of no importance as respects the quality 
of the roots. The yield varies with the quality of the 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 8l 

soil and the state of cultivation, thirty and thirty-live 
tons being frequently harvested from an acre." 

GERMAN RED MANGEL-WURZEL. 

Disette d'Allemagne. — Vilmorin. 

Burr describes it as " an improved variety of the long 
red mangel-v/urzel, almost regularly cylindrical, and 
terminating at the lower extremity in an obtuse cone. 
It grows much out of ground ; the neck or crown is 
comparatively small ; it is rarely forked or deformed 
by small side roots, and is generally much neater and 
more regular than the long red. Size very large ; 
well-developed specimens measuring from eighteen to 
twenty inches in length, and seven or eight inches in 
diameter. Flesh white, with red zones or rings. 
Leaves erect, green ; the stems and nerves washed or 
stained with rose-red. 

" For agricultural purposes this variety is superior 
to the long red, as it is larger, more productive, and 
more easily harvested." 

LONG WHITE GREEN-TOP MANGEL-WURZEL. 

Green-top White Sugar. — Long White Mangel-wurzel. — Disette 
blanche ^ collet vert. — Vilmorin, 

"An improved variety of the white sugar beet. 
Root produced much above ground, and of very large 
size ; if well grown, measuring nearly six inches in 
diameter, and eighteen inches in depth — the diameter 
often retained for nearly two thirds the length. Skin 
green, where exposed to light and air ; below ground, 
4* 



82 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

white. Flesh white. Leaves green, rather large, and 
not so numerous as those of the white sugar. 

" Very productive, and superior to the long red for 
agricultural purposes ; the quality being equally good, 
and the yield much greater." (^Burr.) 

Vilmorin describes it as follows : " It is one of the 
best for sugar manufacturers. It has a smooth skin, 
grows beneath the surface, is rather large, and keeps 
well. Production, sixteen to twent}^ tons to an acre. 
It has been neglected lately in France, because there 
are so many kinds resembling it, which grow out of 
the soil, and are less profitable to sugar manufacturers. 
It is, nevertheless, superior to the collet rose." 

LONG WHITE RED-TOP MANGEL-WURZEL. 

Disette blanche a collet rose. — Vilmorin, 

Vilmorin describes this beet as follows : " The bet- 
terave blanche a collet rose was formerly more ex- 
tensively cultivated than at present, farmers having 
substituted for it the ' collet vert ; ' but the appearance 
of so many degenerate kinds of the latter has lately 
induced many farmers to resume the cultivation of the 
former. Its root is well shaped, smooth, long, and 
grows but little above the soil. Its flesh is white, 
zoned with red. It contained in i860 about seven per 
cent, of sugar. In spite of this low percentage its 
cultivation in the north of France is increasing. By 
improved culture it produces larger quantities of sugar, 
approaching in richness to the standard of the ' collet 
vert ; ' it keeps well, and its color enables manufac- 
turers and cultivators to recognize it readily." 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 83 

YELLOW CASTELNAUDARY. 

Burr describes it as follows : " Root produced within 
the earth, broadest at the crown, where its diameter 
is nearly three inches, and tapering gradually to a 
point, the length being about eight inches. Skin 
orange-yellow. Flesh clear yellow, with paler zones 
or rings. Leaves spreading, those on the outside be- 
ing on stems about four inches in length ; the inner 
ones are shorter, numerous, of a dark-green color, and 
rather waved on the edges : the leaf-stems are green 
rather than yellow. 

" An excellent table beet, being tender, yet firm, and 
very sweet when boiled, although its color is not so 
agreeable to the eye." 

Sarrazin describes it (betterave jaune) as " growing 
entirely beneath the surface, and having the form of a 
pear, not very heavy, but quite sugary, producing little 
foliage, succeeding well in poor soils, and yielding well 
where other kinds produce small crops. The stalks 
of the leaves have the same yellow color as the root." 

YELLOW GLOBE MANGEL-WURZEL. 

Betterave jaune globe. — Vilmorin. 

" This is a globular-formed beet, measuring about ten 
inches in diameter, and weighing ten or twelve pounds ; 
about one half of the root growing above ground. 
Skin yellow where it is covered by the soil, and yel- 
lowish-brown above the surface where exposed to light 
and air. Flesh white, zoned or marked with yellow, 
close-grained, and sugary. Leaves not large or nu- 



84 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

mei'ous, rather erect, green, the stems and ribs paler, 
and sometimes yellowish. 

" The yellow globe is one of the most productive of 
all the varieties, and though not adapted to table use, 
is particularly excellent for stock of all descriptions, 
as the roots are not only remarkably sugary, but 
contain a considerable portion of albumen. It retains 
its soundness and freshness till the season has far 
advanced, does not sprout so early in spring as many 
others, and is especially adapted for cultivation in 
hard, shallow soil. 

" The yield varies from thirty to forty tons per acre, 
according to soil, season, and culture ; although crops 
are recorded of fifty tons and ujDwards. 

" On account of its globular form the crop can be 
harvested with great facility by the use of a common 
plough." {Bzirr.) 

MAGDEBURG. 

" The Magdeburg beet unites most of the qualities 
of the German race ; its root is tapering, of middling 
size, with few accessory or lateral roots, and grows 
entirely beneath the surface, is white, and has a green 
neck. Its average yield is twelve to fourteen tons per 
acre in land where the white French sugar beet pro- 
duces sixteen to eighteen tons. 

" Experiments have shown it to be rich in sugar." 
( Vilmorin.) 

IMPROVED VILMORIN. 

" This kind, which is still in its infancy, is the richest 
of all, experiments having proved that it contains from 
sixteen to seventeen per cent, of saccharine matter. 



CULTIVATION OF THE CEET. 85 

'* The neck of this beet is very large ; the roots are 
generally irregular, of bad shape, and have many ac- 
cessory roots ; harvesting is difficult, especially in wet 
weather." ( Vllmorin.) 

IMPERIAL. 

" The imperial beet is a native of Germany. It is 
said to contain thirteen and one half per cent of sugar. 
The root, which is carrot-shaped, has a green neck, is 
\ery long, and grows entirely beneath the surface." 
( Vihnorin.^ 

WHITE SUGAR. 

White Silesian. — Betterave blanche. — Vilmorin. 

" Root fusiform, sixteen inches in length, six or seven 
inches in its greatest diameter, contracted towards the 
crown, thickest just below the surface of the soil, but 
nearly retaining its size for half the depth, and thence 
tapering regularly to a point. Skin white, washed 
with green or rose-red at the crown. Flesh white, 
crisp, and very sugary. Leaves green ; the leaf-stems 
clear green, or green stained with light red, according 
to the variety. 

"•The white sugar beet is quite extensively grown in 
this country, and is employed almost exclusively as 
feed for stock, although the young roots are sweet, 
tender, and well flavored, and in all respects superior 
for the table to many garden varieties. In France it 
is largel}^ cultivated for the manufacture of sugar, and 
for distillation. 

'' Of the two sub-varieties, some cultivators prefer 
the green-top ; others, the rose-colored or red-top. 



86 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

The latter Is the larger, more productive, and the 
better keeper ; but the former is the more sugaiy. It 
is, however, very difficult tp preserve the varieties in 
a pure state, much of the Seed usually sown contain- 
ing, in some degree, a mixture of both. 

" It is cultivated, in all respects, as the long red 
mangel-wurzel, and the yield, per acre, varies from 
twenty to thirty tons." (^Bztrr.) 

Mauny de Mornay says, " The white Silesian beet 
is generally considered the best for the sugar manu- 
facturer : it grows beneath the surface, has a small 
green neck, the stalks of the leaves are greenish- 
white ; it yields less juice, but of a richer quality, than 
most other kinds ; it contains salts in smaller propor- 
tions, keeps well, and resists frost better than others. 
It has the preference over all others with the manu- 
facturers of sugar." 

Characteristics of Beets for Sugar-making. 

For the use of sugar manufacturers the kind of beet 
that can be cultivated with most advantage is that 
which is richest in sugar, and contains the smallest 
amount of alkaline salts. It is distinguished by the 
following characteristics : — 

First. Its root must have neither the form of a car- 
rot, nor of a tuber, but be shaped more like a Bartlett 
pear. It must be long and slender, gradually tapering, 
and free from large lateral roots. 

Second. It must not grow above the surface of the 
soil. 

Third. It must have a smooth white surface, and 
the flesh be white and hard. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 87 

F'ourth. Its size must not be too large, and its 
weight not exceeding five to eight pounds. 

The white Silesian beet, which is the one in general 
cultivation for manufacturers, unites most of these 
qualities ; and of other kinds those are most preferred 
whose foliage is not upright, but broad-spreading and 
lying upon the surface of the ground. The roots of 
beets possessing this peculiarity grow entirely beneath 
the surface. 

The beet, as a sugar-producing plant, is for the tem- 
perate latitudes what the cane is for the tropics ; but be- 
sides its saccharine properties, it possesses others which 
render it even a greater acquisition to the human race 
than the cane. 

It flourishes in almost any good soil ; few plants are 
more hardy and tenacious of life, or have a wider 
range of cultivation. 

It succeeds well in every country of Europe, from 
Italy to Norway, and from Spain to Russia. 

In the United States it has been successfully culti- 
vated in most of the states from Missouri to Maine, 
and would doubtless thrive in all. It is, however, a 
remarkable fact, that while the cane increases in saccha- 
rine richness as it approaches the equator, the reverse 
is the case with the beet, which up to a certain degree, 
north or south, secretes more sugar as it approaches 
the poles. 

The northern limit of the successful culture of sugar 
beet on this continent is probably to be found at about 
latitude 50° to 52°, which is in Canada. In Europe it 
is successfully cultivated as far north as 60°- 



88 beet-root sugar and 

Choice of Soil. 

Although most countries and climates permit its 
culture, there is of course a choice of soil, if the high- 
est development of saccharine qualities is desired. 

The root of the beet penetrates deeply into the 
ground, and is abundantly supplied with fine fibres, 
through which it derives its nourishment. 

The beet dislikes a too clayey, tenacious soil. Rocky 
or stony land must also be avoided, as it produces 
forked and misshapen roots, difficult to cleanse and 
rasp. 

Soil charged with mineral salts is not suitable ; for 
sugar beets easily absorb its saline and alkaline ele- 
ments, which are obstacles to the extraction of sugar. 

Marshy, sw^ampy lands, and those in proximity to 
the sea, are unfavorable for the beet. 

Wet lands are disadvantageous ; but by a proper 
system of drainage, cultivation, and manuring, may 
be rendered suitable. 

The beet flourishes best in deep, rich, loose, per- 
meable soils, suitable for grains. 

Light, rich, sandy ground furnishes beets dense, 
easy of preservation, and rich in sugar. 

Calcareous soils are good, and the argillo-calcare- 
ous are better still. 

Ground that is mellow, warm, and fertile, free from 
saline and alkaline constituents, not sour, and of a 
nature little liable to suffer from drought, easy to 
work late in autumn and early in spring, with a 
comparatively permeable subsoil, penetrable by the 
tap-root of the beet, that affords natural drainage, so 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 89 

that it may be worked soon after rains, is suitable 
for the crop in question. 

The best colors for the soil are black and brown, 
provided the color is from vegetable mould, and not 
due to metallic elements. 

A black soil warms more readily, and retains heat 
better, than that of any other color. This is favor- 
able to the early development of the beet in the 
spring, which is important, as it tends to put the 
plant beyond the reach of summer drought, its long 
root penetrating deep enough into the earth to obtain 
the necessary supply of moisture. The "black soil" 
of Russia, which corresponds with much of our 
western land, is said by Professor Witt, of Munich, 
to be acknowledged the best in Europe for the sugar 
beet. 

Count Chaptal, a great cultivator, as well as sugar 
manufacturer, says, " All grain-fields are more or 
less suitable for beets, but especially those having a 
depth of twelve or fifteen inches of rich vegetable 
mould. Fine, sandy, alluvial bottom lands, over- 
flowed in winter or early spring, are favorable for 
the beet, and they need no artificial manure, as they 
are enriched by the inundations. Beets require to be 
planted on thoroughly cultivated land in which the 
sods are entirely rotted." 

He was often compelled to sow a crop of oats on 
land newly broken up before he planted the beet, of 
which afterwards he often got two excellent successive 
crops. 

When the soil was very light and deep he some- 
times succeeded in getting a good crop on pasture 



90 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

land broken up in the fall, and planted with beets 
six months later ; but lands in English grass, which 
were ploughed, and planted with beets, never produced 
a good crop the first year. It was always better the 
second year. 

By intelligent, scientific, and well-directed labor 
almost any soil can be made suitable for the beet ; but 
it is to be considered whether, in an economical point 
of view, it is judicious to force the culture of a plant 
upon a soil naturally unsuited to it. Heavy expenses 
will diminish if they do not entirely absorb the prof- 
its, even on large crops. This consideration is espe- 
cially entitled to weight in the cultivation of sugar 
beets, for which it is best to select what is called in 
Europe a " natural beet ground." 

A clayey, sandy subsoil, which retains moisture and 
the liquid manures, or a subsoil of marl, is favorable. 
On the other hand, a subsoil of gravel is unfavorable ; 
so also is a subsoil of sand, unless the deposit of loam 
above it is at least two feet deep. 

Drought in the season of early vegetation is perni- 
cious, but after the plant gets well established it will 
bear extended dry weather. Too much rain, later in 
the season, increases the weight of the crop at the 
expense of sugar ; or rather it diminishes the percent- 
age of saccharine matter, the same amount existing, 
but in a less concentrated form. The beets are more 
watery, and consequently of less value for making 
sugar. Too much rain early in the season, when 
the plant needs warmth, is disadvantageous, and re- 
tards its growth. 

M. Michael, in the "Journal de Chimie pratique," 
says, — 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 9I 

" I. The formation of cane sugar in beets is only 
favored by the proper concurrence of warmth and 
rain. 

" 3. Continued drought induces acid juices. 

"3. The juices, during the period of storage in the 
silos (pits), are converted into grape sugar, which is 
uncrystallizable. 

"4. Beets in the year 1859 (a very dry season) 
heated in the silos, and rotted sooner than those of the 
preceding year. This was the result of the drought 
and consequent formation of acid juices." 

J. J. Fuhling, a great Prussian cultivator, says, — • 

" My observations and inquiries satisfy me that in 
a climate warm and moist in summer, most lands are 
adapted to the beet ; that in a climate where the 
summers are very hot and dry, a strong and retentive 
soil is required ; and where they are colder and more 
humid, fields light and permeable produce better re- 
sults for the cultivator. 

" After planting is done, warm and moist weather 
in May and June favor the early development of the 
plant, which gives earnest of a good crop. 

"With July and early August dry and warm, the 
production of good seed is probable. 

" Continued and abundant rains in July and August 
insure a heavy crop. September dry produces beets 
rich in sugar ; but September wet makes them watery, 
and comparatively poor in saccharine matter, — not 
because the beets secrete their sugar in that month, 
but because with dry weather the beet ripens and its 
leaves begins to wither, while with continued rain the 
plant is stimulated to produce a second crop of leaves 
at the exi^ense of the sugar contained in the root. 



92 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



" The three principal periods of vegetation in the 
growth of the beet are marked by the successive for- 
mation of the leaves, the root, and the seeds. 

'^ The first of these periods extends to July, during 
which time the leaves are rapidly developed, while 
there is but little increase in the size of the roots. 
The beet then remains in a state of comparative re- 
pose." 

From the middle of July to the latter part of Au- 
gust the root increases rapidly in size. 

Seed ripens in August. 

From August to the middle of September, and 
sometimes until the 15th of October, the beet still 
grows, but increases more rapidly in weight than in 
size. 

Method of cultivating the Sugar Beet * for 
THE Manufacture of Sugar. 

Having selected a suitable piece of ground that is 
already in cultivation, it should be thoroughly ma- 
nured in the fall, the manure ploughed in to a de^oth 
of six or seven inches, and completely covered, taking 
particular care that the land is dry, for working wet 
land always develops in it gummy and sticky proper- 
ties that subsequently interfere with easy cultivation. 
This superficial ploughing should be followed by a sec- 
ond, as deep as possible. A double Michigan plough 
would probably perform the work with a single oper- 

* The instructions here given are exclusively for the cultivation 
of beets destined to be manufactured into sugar. The cultivation 
of forage beets for feeding stock is quite different, particularly in 
relation to the distances at which the plants should stand apart. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 93 

ation. The depth of the furrow should not be less 
than twelve inches, and if deeper, so much the better ; 
for the root of the sugar beet requires a deep, rich 
bed, in which it can develop itself entirely beneath 
the surface of the soil. The part that grows above 
the ground contains no sugar, and if it rises much, 
is always cut off at the time of harvest, that course 
being mutually agreed upon in Europe by the manu- 
facturer and cultivator.* 

If the soil is ploughed to a sufficient depth, the root 
of the beet will not rise above the ground. The 
farmer consequently not only gets a larger crop, and 
of better quality, but the whole of it is marketable. 
Whereas if the ground is not properly ploughed, the 
beets rise, the part above ground is cut off, and is only 
used for feeding stock. 

Deep ploughing therefore is of the greatest impor- 
tance, not only for the beet, but also, as every farmer 
knows, for succeeding crops. It renders the soil mel- 

* The portion of the root that grows out of the ground contains 
little or no sugar, but is rich in salts ; therefore there is not only 
no good derived by the manufacturer from this exposed part, but 
a positive evil ; for besides lessening the percentage of sugar con- 
tained in the whole root, the presence of the salts in the neck les- 
sens still farther the percentage that can be extracted. This is so 
well understood, that in Germany, where women and children can 
be hired at ten or fifteen cents a day, they are employed in the fac- 
tories to cut off from the beets, before they are rasped, every part 
of the crown and neck that grew above the surface of the soil. 
The portion thus cut off is fed to cattle. In France, where labor 
is higher, this custom does not prevail ; but if the beets grow 
much above the surface, the necks are cut off at the time of har- 
vest. 



94 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

lower by more thoroughly exposing it to the action 
of the frosts. This is considered so important in 
Europe that the plough is often followed by laborers, 
wiio, with a spade, take out the earth from the bed 
of the furrow and lay it on the slice. Our subsoil 
plough would do that work cheaper and better. 

If, after the fall ploughings, any weeds make their 
appearance before winter sets in, it is a good plan to 
pass over the field twice with a harrow, running the 
second time across the track of the first harrowing. 

In Europe farmers use what they call an " extir- 
pateur," which is an instrument with teeth sharp and 
strong, and about fourteen inches long, shaped like 
those of a cultivator. It differs from our " extirpator." 
It is used upon the stubble in the autumn, immedi- 
ately after the grains are harvested, to extirpate the 
weeds, and is a very serviceable instrument. They 
usually pass twice over the fields with it, making the 
second track across the first. It is mounted on wheels, 
is of various sizes, and is drawn by two, three, or four 
horses. 

If the land is so mellow as not to require a deep 
ploughing in the fall, manure is put upon the field, 
and the extirpator is passed two or three times over 
it. The land is then thoroughly cross-harrowed, and 
left until spring, when the treatment is the same as 
if it had been subjected to deep ploughing. 

As soon as the ground is sufficiently warm and dry 
in the spring, it should be ploughed again, across the 
furrows of the preceding fall, to a depth of about 
eight inches, and again thoroughly cross-harrowed. 
If the nature of the land is wet, or if the upper soil 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 95 

is thin, it is sometimes thrown into ridges or beds in 
Europe. This method, the culture " en billon," finds 
many advocates even among those possessing lands 
of the deepest and most suitable soil. In case this 
method is adopted, only half the manure allotted to 
the field is used in the fall, and the rest is applied in 
the spring. The follov/ing is the method adopted : — 

The portion of manure that is to be used in the 
fall is spread upon the land, ploughed in, and the 
field left in furrov^ through the winter. In the spring 
the field is worked up w^ith the plough into ridges or 
" billons," between eighteen and twenty inches apart. 

The remainder of the manure is applied, taking 
care to have it placed well at the bottom of the fur- 
rows. The ridges are then split with a plough, the 
manure in the furrows covered, and new ridges formed, 
which are then levelled with a light roller, and the 
seed sown in the usual manner, in the centre, directly 
over the manure. 

Beets cultivated in this way are more apt to be 
forked than those raised by other methods. 

The yellow globe ("jaune globe") is for that rea- 
son generally used in this culture, as its habit is to 
produce smooth and well-shaped roots. The advo- 
cates of this mode of culture claim that it produces 
larger crops, and is safer from the effects of drought 
than any other ; but in my judgment the method is of 
doubtful expediency. 

If the culture " en billon " is not adopted, then, 
after the spring ploughing and harrowing, the field 
is again gone over with the harrow turned upside 
down. This treatment serves better than rolling to 



96 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

smooth and pulverize the soil, and leaves it in admi- 
rable condition for the succeeding operations of sow- 
ing. All stones and clods that v^ould interfere vs^ith 
the successful vv^orking of the seed-sower should be 
removed. 

Sowing the Seed. 

The proper time to commence sowing is in the 
latter part of April, or as soon as the ground is in 
a fit state, being warm and dry, but at the same time 
sufficiently humid to promote rapid germination, and 
not so wet as to induce crustation or baking of the 
surface. Some European cultivators say that it should 
be done when the moon is on the increase. 

Sowing in Europe is done both by hand and by 
machines ; but as the price of labor in this country 
forbids the use of the former method, I shall give no 
description of it, although it is done by women and 
children very rapidly, and certainly possesses many 
advantages in countries where labor is low. I shall 
not describe either the method of transplanting the 
beet which prevails extensively in Germany, for labor 
is too high here to warrant the practice. Nor shall 
I give any description of the seed-sowers in use in 
Europe, because we have better ones in this coun- 
try. I shall assume that machines will be used that 
sow several ranges or rows at a time. 

The irregularity in size and shape of beet seed ren- 
ders it necessary to subject it to certain treatment in 
order to facilitate the operation of sowing, and to pre- 
vent the clogging of the machine, the result of which 
would be to leave long spaces in the lines without any 



CULTIV'ATION OF THE BEET 97 

seed. This preliminary treatment also facilitates its 
germination, and in a measure guards it against de- 
struction by insects. 

The seed should be passed through a screen with 
meshes sufficiently fine to retain all that would not 
pass easily through the gauge that regulates the pas- 
sage of seed in the machine. 

The seed which do not pass must be rubbed between 
two boards, and partially crushed, in order to reduce 
those which are large and irregularly formed to a size 
that permits their easy transmission through the screen. 
After all the seed are by rubbing rendered sufficiently 
small to ofier no obstruction to their easy sowing, they 
are steeped in the following solution : — 

Dissolve nine ounces of sulphate of potash and an 
equal quantity of sulphate of lime in from four to five 
quarts of warm water. After this add five or six gal- 
lons of cold water. Of this solution use a sufficient 
quantity to cover the seed. 

After having steeped for five or six hours, the liquid 
is drained oft', and the seed are dried by putting them 
into a vessel either with wood ashes, slaked lime, 
ground plaster of Paris, or thoroughly pulverized 
guano, and mixing them together, so that each seed 
may be in a degree coated with the material employed. 
They are then spread until sufficiently dry to work 
readily in the machine. The machine should be set 
so as to sow the seed from one and a half to two 
inches deep, and in lines sixteen to eighteen inches 
apart, although some farmers make their rows four- 
teen and others twenty inches apart.* 

* Beets planted a foot apart will produce about four tons more 

5 



98 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

The amount of seed required for an acre varies, of 
course, in accordance with the number of rows and 
the perfection of the seed-sower. It is certainly best 
to sow enough, for in seed-sowing apparent prodi- 
gahty is often the truest economy, it being less costly 
to pull out superabundant plants than to sow a second 
time. 

The farmer should bear in mind that the plants 
must finally stand from twelve to fourteen inches apart 
in the row. Knowing this, and the capacity of his 
machine, he can arrive at a pretty correct estimate of 
the amount of seed required. 

In France the farmers employ from nine to thirteen 
pounds on an acre. 

Too much pains cannot be taken to have the lines 
perfectly straight, and each passage of the machine 
over the field exactly parallel to the preceding one. 
" Marking," before the passage of the seed-sower, 
should be done with the very greatest care and exact- 
ness. This is of the utmost importance in every sub- 
sequent stage of cultivation, and cannot be too strongly 
urged. For economical cultivation it is indispe7isa- 
ble. This is attained in Europe, and the lines are per- 
fect miracles of straightness. 

A strip of land sufiiciently wide for the various ma- 
chines and their teams to turn on should be left at each 
end of the field. In this country, where land is cheap, 

per acre than if planted at a distance of eighteen inches ; they will 
also be from half to one per cent, richer in sugar. But the lesser 
distance is not so well adapted to cheap culture, and the usual 
method is to have the rows sixteen to eighteen inches apart, and 
the plants twelve to fourteen inches apart in the rows. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 99 

it can be afibrdecl, and in beet culture it will be found 
economical and convenient. 

As soon as the seed are sown the ground should be 
rolled. This hastens germination. The best roller is 
a cast-iron one, in joints or sections. The roller should 
follow the lines made by the seed-sower as exactly as 
is possible. 

The beet generally makes its appearance in about 
ten days after the seed is sown ; but the time varies in 
accordance with the nature and condition of the soil 
and of the season. If the plant does not " show" in 
the usual time, seed must be examined in several 
different parts of the field, and if found generally to be 
alive, more time must be allowed for its germination. 
But if it be found that there is here and there a strong 
plant, while the rest come up irregularly, and exami- 
nation of the seed in the vacant places proves them to 
be rotten, then it is to be considered, 

1. Are there plants enough to give a fair crop? 

2. Is the field in condition to allow seed to be sown 
in the vacant places ? 

3. Is there yet time to re-sow the whole piece ? 

Weeding. 

As soon as the plants are up, if weeds begin to ap- 
pear, no time should be lost in setting the cultivator 
in motion to destroy them, and to stir the ground 
between the rows. 

In Europe machines particularly designed for this 
purpose, as well as for other of the various require- 
ments of this special culture, are in partial use. They 
will soon be brought here, and probably be improved 



lOO BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

Upon by our skilful mechanics. But there are al- 
ready cultivators in the west, that, with triiiing mod- 
ifications, would perform the required work admi- 
rably. 

If the weeds should show thickly before the beet is 
up, and the lines made by the seed-sower are plainly 
visible, the cultivator may commence at once, for it is 
absolutely necessary, if good returns of beets, and also 
subsequent crops, are desired, that the fields should be 
kept entirely free from weeds. 

In many parts of Europe the farmer not only runs 
his cultivator (" rasette a cheval ") between the rows, 
but also across them, leaving his plants at the corners 
of squares eighteen inches apart each way, thus doing 
almost all his work with a horse cultivator. This 
implement sometimes operates on one, but oftener on 
three lines at once, and is drawn by a small horse, 
which is led by a boy. 

The cultivator for one line does better work, but at 
a higher cost, than the three-line machine. There are 
two-horse cultivators in use, but it is difficult to em- 
ploy a span of horses without injuring the crop. 
Many of these machines have a device attached that 
raises the leaves from the ground, and prevents their 
being injured. Others, also, have an attachment that 
"earths-up" the beet. The cost of these machines 
varies from five to thirty dollars. The one-horse ma- 
chine, managed by a boy, will cultivate from three to 
four acres a day. 

The use of the horse-cultivator across the lines is 
not recommended, as it leaves the plants too far apart 
in the lines. In some cases the hand hoe (" rasette a 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. lOI 

main ") is used for both operations, and oftener still for 
cultivating across the lines. The " rasette a main " is 
mounted on low wheels, and is a species of thrust hoe 
and cultivator combined. The cultivator should not 
be run very deep upon its first passage, for fear of dis- 
turbing or covering ihe young plants. 

In case the field is not cultivated across the lines 
either by the horse or hand rasette, it is necessary, as 
soon as cultivation between the lines has taken place, 
to thin out the beets, leaving single plants standing, 
from twelve to fourteen inches apart in the rows.* 
This can be done best when the ground is moist. 

The ground should afterwards be loosened about 
the plant with a sharp, short-handled hoe, four or five 
inches in width, leaving the earth light and easily ac- 
cessible to the fertilizing influences of the atmosphere. 
In case there are vacant spaces in the lines, enough 
plants should be left in adjoining rows to furnish the 
means of filling the spaces by transplanting as soon 
as the beets are sufiiciently large, which will generally 
be at the time of the second weeding. 

Vacant spaces in the lines should be filled by trans- 
planting. This can be done best when the beets are 
about one half or three fourths of an inch in diameter. 
A moist day should be selected, and the plants taken 
up with a spade, or, better, with a transplanting trowel, 
from those lines where thinning is required, and 

* In thinning, particularly in dry weather, take a flat Avooden 
knife with which to separate the plants and hold down the earth, 
while the beet to be removed is pulled up. If the earth is too dry 
to remove the plant easily, use a steel " dibble," with which the 
beet can be destroyed. 



I02 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

carried in a wooden tray to the spot where they are 
needed. 

Pains should be taken to injure the beet as little as 
possible, and in replanting them to have the root kept 
straight, otherwise the matured plant will produce 
forked and misshapen roots. 

Holes about five inches deep should be made at 
proper intervals for the reception of the plant, with a 
plug of hard wood, eight inches in length and an incli 
in diameter at one end, tapering gradually to the 
diameter of a quarter of an inch, when the end should 
be rounded off. 

One careful workman should take up the beets and 
carry them to another, who will set them out. The 
latter workman takes a plant by the leaves with his 
left hand, and makes a perpendicular hole with the 
plug held in his right hand ; he then withdraws the 
plug from the ground, and carefully inserts the plant 
in the hole, taking pains to keep the root perfectly 
straight. He holds it by the left hand, keeping the 
crown of the plant on a level with the surface of the 
ground ; he then plunges the plug perpendicularly 
two or three times into the ground within an inch of 
the root, and crowds the earth against the root with 
the plug. He then places a little earth about the 
plant, and with both hands presses and settles the soil 
about the root. The earth is then dressed with the 
fingers about the plant, taking pains to leave the 
crown just even with the surface. 

The long leaves are then pinched off, and the oper- 
ations are completed. 

The first workman should have a tray in which to 



I 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. IO3 

carry the plants he takes up. The second should also 
have one for the convenience of transporting the 
plants along the line. These trays should be two feet 
long and one foot wide, with rims three inches high 
on each side and on one end, with holes in the middle 
of the side rims to admit the fingers. One end is left 
open, so that the first workman can, with little injury 
to the plants, slide them from his tray into that of the 
second. 

Transplanting may also be done when the plants 
are much larger, in which case it may be necessary to 
make the hole with the spade. In that case one work- 
man thrusts his spade perpendicularly into the ground 
to a depth sufficient for the length of the root, and by 
a motion of his spade pries the ground to one side ; 
another workman then inserts the root, holding it in 
its proper position ; the first workman then withdraws 
his spade, and presses the earth against the plant with 
his foot. It is far better, however, to transplant when 
the beets are small. 

There is also an instrument for transplanting, called 
a " deplantoir," in use in France, that moves the 
plant without retarding its growth in the least. It 
does the work perfectly in every respect, except that 
it does not do it expeditiously. 

If the " spacing" of the plants is done by the pas- 
sage of the cultivator across the lines, then the work- 
men must with their hands, or with the short hoe, 
loosen the earth about each plant, leaving but a single 
one standing at the corner of each square. 

All weeds should be pulled up and left upon the 
surface between the rows, but not in piles, for they 



I04 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

would obstruct the subsequent passage of the cultiva- 
tor ; whereas if they are spread, the cultivator will pass 
over them, and leave the intei^vals between the rows 
perfectly clean and smooth. 

As soon after the first weeding as the ground be- 
comes "baked" or "crusted," or as soon as the 
weeds again make their appearance, a second and 
deeper cultivation, and also a thorough weeding, should 
take place. The ground should at all times be kept 
pulverized, loose, open, and always entirely free from 
weeds. For this reason, as well as that the extirpated 
weeds may die more speedily, it is highly important 
that the weeding and cultivation should be done not 
only when the weather is hot, for then weeds are more 
easily killed, but also when the ground is dry, for it is 
at that time less likely to form a crust. 

The only operations in beet culture suitable for wet 
weather are thinning and transplanting. Some hand 
labor is necessary, and frequent hoeings that break up 
the incrusted soil are of great benefit. Care should 
be taken to keep the hoes sharp, in order the more 
easily to cut off the weeds. There is a proverb in 
Germany that " the hoe is the gold of the beet." 

The number of times that the beet should be weeded 
and cultivated is determined by the condition of the 
surface soil, and the existence of weeds. The weeds 
must be kept down, and the soil inust be kept loose. 
Three weedings often sufhce ; if no more are required, 
so much the better. If six are needed, tJiey must be 
given. The value of the crop demands this, and it 
must be done, and well done. The better it is done 
the first time, the less there will be necessary to do 
afterwards. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. I05 

As soon as the plants take such full possession of 
the soil, that hoeing or cultivating cannot be done 
without damage to the leaves, then those operations 
must cease, for it is of great importance to preserve 
the foliage from injury. This w^ill generally be the 
case early in July. The luxuriant growth of the plant 
then stifles the weeds, and, shading the ground, pre- 
vents its incrustation. The only care required after 
that time until harvest is to pull up such weeds as 
may have accidentally escaped the watchful eye of 
the farmer, and to cut ofl^ the flower-stalks of the few 
beets that give indications of producing seed.* 

Both these operations must be strictly attended to, 
for the weed not only withdraws nourishment from 
the beet, but if permitted to mature, scatters seed that 
increase the farmer's subsequent labor ; while the 
root of the beet that is permitted to " go to seed" con- 
tains not a particle of sugar. 

It is a common but not universal practice in Europe 
to " hill," or to " earth up," the beet, and the method 
finds many advocates. The operation is performed 
principally with a species of small double mould-board 
plough, and is finished with the hoe. It is generally 
done between the second and third weedings. The 
practice seems to be a reasonable one, as it tends not 
only to make the soil light, and thus promotes the 
growth of the beet, but also causes its development 
beneath the soil, thus lessening the amount to be cut 
ofl^ of the neck at the time of hai-vest. Beets that have 

* If the beet shows a tendency to go to seed while it is yet small, 
it should be pulled up ; but if it is large, the flower-stalk should be 
cut off, 

5* 



Io6 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

a tendency to grow out of the ground are improved 
m quality by earthing them up in July. 

Harvesting the Beet. 

The maturity of the beet is marked by unmistaka- 
ble signs. The leaves of the plants, instead of look- 
ing green, thrifty, and vigorous, begin to assume a 
yellowish tinge, to wither and drop off. This period 
varies with the climate, the season, and also with the 
method of cultivating and of manuring. These indi- 
cations are signals of the coming harvest, and the 
field must thenceforward be narrowly watched, calcu- 
lation being made as to how much time will probably 
elapse before frost sets in ; also as to the force attain- 
able for harvesting the crop, and also as to the prob- 
ability of rain. It is important that beets should be 
harvested before heavy frost, although they will, before 
being dug, bear a temperature of 22° to 24° without 
injury. Beets that are frozen should be left for eight 
or ten days before being dug, in which case they often 
recover from the effect of the frost ; if they could be 
left longer, it would be still better. After being dug, 
the beet will bear a temperature of 28° without detri- 
ment. Heavy rains, after the foliage has withered 
and fallen, stimulate the production of new leaves at 
the expense of the sugar in the beet. This should be 
counteracted by harvesting the crop as speedily as 
possible ; but the longer the beet stays in the ground 
without the risk of freezing or producing new leaves, 
the better for the manufacturer, and of course for the 
farmer, for their interests are identical. 

Beets are generally ripe in France the last of Sep- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 107 

tember or first of October. In Illinois, by reason of 
the heat of our summers being more intense, they 
would ripen early in September. This is a great 
advantage to the manufacturer, as he can begin to 
work nearly a month sooner than is done in Europe, 
and operate upon ripe beets ; while in Europe, the 
manufacturer, if he has a large crop to consume, be- 
gins in September, but has unripe beets, that do not 
contain their full proportion of sugar. 

If a portion of the beets are to be taken at once to 
the factory, and the rest kept in pits for future work- 
ing, then those that are ripest should be selected for 
the pits, and of the rem.ainder the ripest should be 
first dug for immediate use at the factory. If the 
beets are all to be put into pits, then the least ripe, 
and also those grown on the richest ground, should 
be kept separate, and delivered first to the mill when 
they are required. The reasons for these rules are, 
that ripe beets keep better than unripe ones, and 
that beets grown on rich ground are more watery, and 
consequently do not keep so well as those grown on 
poorer soil. 

Beets may be dug with a spade, fork, or common 
plough. They are generally taken from the ground 
in Europe with what is called an " arracheur," which 
is a sort of plough with a share shaped like a cone, 
the section of which is an oval somewhat flattened on 
the lower side, about three feet in length, seven or 
eight inches in diameter, and tapering to a blunted 
point. It is drawn by two horses, and will dig from 
one and a half to one and three fourths acres of 
beets per day in excellent condition. The operations 



Io8 BEKT-ROOT SUGAR AND 

of the spade or fork are too tedious and costly to be 
employed in this country, and the common plough 
injures a great many of the beets, thereby promoting 
their decay in the pits. 

In harvesting the beet, it is advisable, chiefly for two 
reasons, to select dry vs^eather and a dry state of the 
soil. If the w^eather immediately preceding harvest 
is very w^et, not only is the beet rendered more w^atery, 
and the percentage of sugar contained in it less, — 
which of course is a disadvantage for the manufac- 
turer, — but the beets will not keep so well in the pits. 
They are also more susceptible to the action of frost ; 
for the richer the beet is in sugar, the better it will 
keep, and the less likely is it to freeze. 

If the ground is wet, the earth, also adheres more 
closely to the roots, and they are neither so easily dug 
nor so easily cleansed of the adhering soil. When the 
ground is wet and the extracted roots are very dirty, 
they must be gently knocked together to free them 
from the superabundant soil, but not with such force 
as to bruise them. Roots keep better when some 
soil adheres to them ; but too much induces vege- 
tation in the pits, which destroys the sugar. 

When the roots are thrown out by the " arracheur," 
women and children place the beets from two rows 
side by side upon the ground, all lying in the same 
direction, with their leaves on one side and their roots 
on the other. This is for the convenience of the 
workman who cuts off the leaves. If the beets are 
properly placed, his labors are lessened, and he is not 
obliged to touch the beets with his hands. It takes 
but little extra labor, and that of women and children, 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. IO9 

to place them properly and to " double up the rows," 
— that is, to place in one line the beets from two 
rows, — while it not only hastens the labors of the cut- 
ter, but also facilitates the subsequent operation of 
throwing into pits or putting into wagons. Pains 
should also be taken to have two "doubled rows" 
come together, in order to allow the passage between 
the rows of extracted beets of a wagon, into Vvdiich 
they can be loaded from both sides. This can be 
done in the following manner : rows one and two 
should, when dug, be laid on the ground occupied by 
row one ; rows three and four on row occupied by 
four ; rows five and six on row five ; rows seven and 
eight on row eight ; and so on. 

After the beets are placed in lines, the leaves are 
cut off. For this operation several different methods 
are employed. In some instances the work is done 
by women and children, who use either a large knife 
with a curved point, like a pruning-knife, or a straight 
knife, with a blade about a foot long and an inch and 
a half v^ide. In other cases it is done by a man 
either with a spade or with an instrument shaped like 
a sod-cutter, with a handle about four feet long. This 
latter instrument is the best. Whichever is used, it 
must be kept sharp, not only to render the work 
easier, but also to prevent bruising the beet, v/hich 
hastens its decomposition. 

If the beet is of the right kind, and has been prop- 
erly cultivated, so that the root has not pushed above 
the surface, it will only be necessary to cut off' the 
foliage, just shaving the crov/n of the plant, so that 
the leaves fall separated ; but if the root, for any rea- 



no BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

son, has grown much above the surface, then a portion 
of, the green neck, which has been exposed to the air, 
should be sHced off with the leaves. Mutilation of 
the beet must be avoided, for every wound not only 
hastens decay in the pits, but even a slight exposure 
to the air induces fermentation at the v>^ounded part, 
which somewhat lessens the production of crystallized 
sugar ; therefore it Is advisable to cultivate the plant 
so that it will not be necessary to cut off any part of 
tjie neck. After the leaves are cut off, the beets may 
be either put at once into the pits or silos, transported 
to the factory, or thrown into small piles. If the 
latter course is adopted, the piles should not be made 
more than two and a half feet high, and should be 
covered at once with the leaves as a safeofuard asrainst 
frost, and to exclude them from the unfavorable Influ- 
ence of light and air, which causes them to wither 
and become flaccid, and tends to promote decay. 

The treatment after harvest is of the greatest Im- 
portance : upon it depends the ultimate value of the 
crop, which may otherwise prove a total loss. 

Preservation of Beets. 

The methods of preserving beets are various. In 
some parts of Europe they are kept upon the surface 
of the ground, and In immense solid piles, covering 
acres of land to a uniform depth of about six feet. 
I have even seen them between nine and ten feet deep. 
In other cases they are placed on the ground in piles 
ten or twelve feet wide at the base, five feet high, and 
of any desired length, with the sides of the pile grad- 
ually converging as they approach the requisite height. 



CUlLTIVATION OF THE BEET. Ill 

and with the top rounded so as to shed water. In 
some cases these piles are ventilated, as will be de- 
scribed hereafter, and in other cases they are solid. 
In the opinion of many, piles should not contain more 
than five tons, and should be thoroughly ventilated ; 
on the other hand, I have seen more than 10,000 tons 
in a pile without any ventilation, and the beets came 
out in perfect condition. Some people preserve them 
in silos or pits of various sizes, ventilated, in some 
instances, and in others filled solid ; in some sections 
the piles are conical. 

In France a patent has been taken for the preserva- 
tion of beets by the mechanical introduction of a cur- 
rent of cool air through ventilators that traverse the 
piles. Preservation in cellars is not practicable on a 
large scale, neither do the beets keep so well as those 
in pits or piles. 

The best method of preserving the beet is to keep 
it continually frozen ; for freezing not only docs not in- 
jure its saccharine properties, but it facilitates the ex- 
traction of sugar, probably because frost ruptures the 
sap-vessels more completely than it is possible to do 
mechanically. The trouble of frost in Europe is, that 
a frozen beet, when it thaws, quickly becomes rotten, 
and it is impossible, in their climate, to keep them 
frozen ; consequentl}^ frozen beets require to be worked 
at once, or decomposition takes place. In my judg- 
ment, beets may be frozen in Illinois in November, and 
by protecting them with straw from the rays of the 
sun, may be kept frozen until March. 

As it is impossible for the manfacturer upon a large 
scale to take the whole crop at once, the usual method 



112 BEET-ROOT SUGAH AND 

in Europe is to contract with each farmer for the de- 
livery of his beets throughout the season. A portion is 
required each day, and is drawn to the mill for imme- 
diate consumption, if the beets are near to the manufac- 
tory. There are also provisions made for the storage 
of a large amount in the yards of the factory, and piles 
are also made on the road-side of adjacent fields. These 
supplies are drawn at the time of harvest, and are kept 
as a reserve for bad weather, or when, from any cause, 
the daily supply from the farmers is not sufficient. 
But if the factory is far from the fields where the beets 
are raised, the better course is to store the roots on the 
field, and deliver them as required ; for the beets are 
injured by long transportation, and do not keep w^ll. 
When the manufacturer has received all that he can 
take care of, the farmer preserves the remainder for 
delivery throughout the fall and winter. 

In whatever way they are stored for preservation, it 
will be necessary to place all the outside beets in a 
perfectly symmetrical wall, gradually inclining towards 
the centre of the pile. For this purpose the beets are 
placed one by one, with their crowms out and the roots 
in. The rest may be thrown promiscuously into the 
interior of the pile. The sooner the beet is put into 
pits or piles after being dug, the better. In presei'ving 
beets, they must be kept from excessive moisture, pre- 
vented from heating, maintained at an even tempera- 
ture, and be easily accessible in wet and freezing 
weather. In selecting places for their preservation, 
dry land that affords natural drainage should be 
chosen, and in close proximity to a road or highway, 
in order the better to keep them from excessive moist- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. II3 

ure, to permit their easy and frequent examination, 
and their more expeditious and economical transpor- 
tation, without trampling upon and injuring the 
ploughed fields. If the piles are in the middle of 
the fields, and the ground is wet, more time and greater 
power will be required to draw out the beets than if 
they are at the road-side. I shall describe the method 
of preserving in " silos," generally employed in Eu- 
rope, remarking again, that the size of these silos 
varies in accordance with the difierent ideas of cul- 
tivators. 

Preservation in Silos or Pits. 

A pit is dug in dry soil, from twenty to twenty-four 
inches deep, ten to twelve feet wide, and of any con- 
venient length ; the bottom rises a little at the centre. 
If the pit is perfectly dry, it will not be necessary to 
put anything on the bottom ; but if it inclines to moist- 
ure, then it would be advisable to give it a coating of 
dry sand, and to make it sufficiently wide to have a 
ditch one foot wide around the pile of beets. This 
ditch should be five or six inches deeper than the bot- 
tom of the pile, and so arranged as to aftbrd drainage 
for any water that might otherwise remain in the pits. 

The roots are then put promiscouusly into the centre 
of the pit, and a symmetrical wall of beets, laid v/ith the 
crowns out, at one end and at both sides. This wall 
must incline regularly towards the centre, at the rate 
of about one foot in three, care being taken to have 
the sides of the pile perfectly straight and even. 
When the pile has been carried up to the requisite 
height, or seven to eight feet from the bottom, and the 



I 14 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

beets on the upper surface smoothly and regularly laid, 
a portion of the earth that was taken from the pit 
must be thrown against the pile, and a wall of earth 
be built around the beets two and one half to three 
feet thick at the base, and gradually diminishing in 
thickness as the summit is attained. The thickness 
of this wall depends upon the climate and the soil : 
if the latter is very light and sandy, a greater thickness 
will be required than if it were heavier and of greater 
consistence. The top of the pile, for a width of three 
or four feet, is not covered with earth until the weather 
becoines cooler. This open space, however, is pro- 
tected with six or eight inches of straw, which is kept 
in its place by boughs or sticks. It is better not to 
put the whole of the earth about the beets at once, 
but to cover them with only half the quantity at first, 
increasing the thickness of the covering as the season 
progresses. As the period for strong frost approaches, 
the straw covering on the top should be replaced by 
earth, the outside of the pile beaten smooth with a 
spade, and put in condition to remain through the 
winter. A transverse section of the finished pile re- 
sembles a haycock in form. 

The end of the pile from which the beets are first 
to be taken, should be coated with three or four feet 
of stravv^, firmly secured with boards, so that access to 
the beets may be easily obtained when the ground is 
frozen hard. 

In putting the beets into silos or pits, great pains 
must be taken to have all the beets in the pile of 
one condition ; that is, the beets that will keep best 
sliould be put in one pile ; those which will not keep 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. II5 

SO well should be put in another ; those which are at 
all injured or bruised, if they cannot be used at once 
at the mill, should be put into a third ; and so on, tak- 
ing care to remember the character of the contents 
of each pile, so that those least likely to keep may be 
first delivered. This has already been referred to on 
page 107, but is of so great importance that I again 
allude to it. 

Preservation in Piles. 
Beets may be preserved in piles upon the surface 
of the ground in precisely the same manner as has 
been described above for their preservation in pits, 
with this exception, that the depth of beets should not 
exceed five or six feet. In both cases a shallow ditch 
should surround the pile and silo or pit for the purpose 
of drainage. In some cases a layer of beets a foot 
thick is covered with two inches of earth, and then 
another layer of beets, and so on until the pile is com- 
pleted : this is a good but expensive process. In all 
cases the piles should be repeatedly examined, and all 
cracks and chinks in the covering of earth repaired at 

once. 

Ventilation of Beets. 

Some persons consider it of the first importance 
to ventilate beets, both those in piles and in pits; 
but I have seen such vast quantities kept in fine 
condition until the 15th of February, stored with- 
out ventilation, in the comparatively warm climate 
of France, that I doubt its necessity. When ventila- 
tion is practised, it is sometimes eflfected by placing 
in the centre of the pile, at distances of twelve to fifteen 



Il6 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

feet, chimneys two or three inches square, made of 
rough boards. These chimneys extend from the bot- 
tom to the top of the pile. In some cases a bundle 
of twigs five or six inches in diameter, and in others a 
pole wrapped loosely around with straw, takes the 
place of the chimney. Sometimes these chimneys 
rest upon the top of triangular frames or ventilators. 
These are made of a piece of board, perhaps a foot 
in width, and another narrow strip, say of scantling. 
Laths or short narrow strips of wood are then nailed 
upon the board and scantling, in such manner as to 
form a triangular frame, like the roof of a house, the 
board serving as the floor, the scantling as the ridge- 
pole, and the laths as the rafters. 

These frames are placed end to end upon the 
ground, running longitudinally in the centre of the 
proposed pile, which is then placed about them in 
the same manner as described for the ordinary piles ; 
the chimney is placed in the centre, and is connected 
with the ventilators, as has been described. Every 
twenty or thirty feet a frame also runs aa^oss the pile. 
The mouths of these ventilators come to the outside 
of the completed pile, and are stufted and completely 
protected with straw, which can easily be removed, 
and by which the supply of air can be regulated. It is 
best, if possible, to have the piles and silos run north 
and south, having the end to be first opened facing 
the south. By this arrangement it is easier to protect 
the pile eftectually, with earth and straw, from the in- 
fluence of cold north winds ; while the end which is 
to be opened, being on the south, is warmer and better 
protected. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



117 



Method of Preservation in Saxony. 

A method of preserving beets prevails in Saxony 
that seems an admirable one, and well adapted to 
existing conditions in Illinois, where straw is super- 
abundant and comparatively without value. 

To facilitate the explanation I present the following 
diagram : — 

d 




B I, B 2, and B 3 are trenches, six feet broad and 
two feet deep, to be used as silos or pits, made chiefly 
with the plough on three sides of a parallelogram. 
The trench B 3 is fifty-two feet long, and the space 
C between the trenches has a breadth of forty feet 
and a length as great as may be needed. Storage 
is commenced by building piles in the silo B 3, in 
the manner described on page 113, beginning on the 



Il8 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

end of the parallelogram, and at the same time In the 
trenches B i and B 3. Line A is the outer edge of 
the pit. The depth of the beets in the piles should not 
exceed six feet, two of which being beneath the sur- 
face, gives a height of four feet above the ground. As 
the work progresses, the outside should be covered 
with earth and the inside with straw. 

When the end is finished, and the two sides have 
been extended to a length of twelve or fifteen feet, 
the straw in the interior is removed, and other beets 
thrown promiscuously into space C, against the wall 
of beets in the trenches. The beets are eventually 
piled up to the level of the top of the wall ; but in the 
early harvest, before the weather gets cold, it would 
be better to pile them only tw^o feet deep, and put in 
the rest later in the season. The beets on the top, 
when the pile is finished, require to be carefully placed 
with their crowns on the outside and their roots ex- 
tending into the pile. The pits are covered, as soon 
as they are finished, with straw, with which the inner 
part of the walls are also kept constantly protected. 

Beets should not be left uncovered any longer than 
is absolutely necessary, from the time they are dug 
until they are consumed in the factory. As the w^eather 
grows cooler, the straw should be removed from the 
top of the pile, and a layer six inches thick of earth, 
or of short stable manure, spread, thoroughly smoothed, 
and rendered as compact as possible, upon the top 
of the pile. This layer may be succeeded, still later 
in the season, by a second or third layer, as circum- 
stances require. When sufficient thickness has been 
obtained, the whole may be covered with straw. Sep- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. II9 

arate compartments may be made with walls of earth 
in the space C, to separate different qualities of beets. 
The ends of the side walls in the silos must be covered 
with earth, like the rest of the outside ; and when the 
whole crop has been harvested, the last of the beets 
must be employed to build a wall in the usual manner 
across space C. It will be necessary, in preserving 
beets in this way, to have a greater amount of earth 
for covering than the pits furnish ; and in ploughing to 
procure it, furrows should not be run nearer than line 
d^ say within three feet of the pile, lest the walls of beets 
should be disturbed. The advantages of this method 
are, that it allows the farmer to store large quantities 
safely on spots the most conveniently located. It also 
facilitates the daily opening of the pile, when the beets 
are to be carried to the factory ; for the entrance is 
small compared with the size of the pile, and can be 
easily protected by straw, which it requires but little 
time to remove. It also saves, to a considerable ex- 
tent, the comparatively tedious and costly process of 
building the walls which are required, when the 
smaller and consequently more numerous piles are 
constructed. 

Method of Preserving Roots in Massa- 
chusetts. 

I annex the instructions given for the preservation 
of root crops in Flint's "Agriculture of Massachu- 
setts." 

" Dig a pit six feet wide, ten or fifteen feet long, and 
eighteen inches deep. Pile the roots as steep and high 
as the base will carry and keep them. Cover the heap 



I20 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

with a layer of straw six inches thick, and follow with 
a covering of earth six inches deep, patting it down, 
so that the rains shall not furrow it. Set one or more 
tile ventilators loosel}' filled with straw. In covering 
the heap, throw up the earth so as to leave a ditch 
around it about two feet from the base line, being sure 
to so construct it as to drain the water away. Cover 
the heap with an additional six inches of earth as late 
as the season will allow. Heaps of roots, however 
stored, must be properly ventilated. Vegetable mat- 
ter is invariably decomposed by heat ; hence the fre- 
quent loss invariably resulting from a want of care in 
storing them. Let them be kept at as low a tempera- 
ture as possible above freezing point." 

Seed. 

The saving of seed is a matter of the greatest con- 
sequence, in connection with the production of the 
sugar beet. In the infancy of beet-sugar manufacture 
the ordinary forage beets, such as the red mangel-wur- 
zel, that contains only five to six per cent, of sugar, and 
often less, were generally employed ; * but varieties far 
richer were gradually introduced, and by judicious 
selections and crosses of difierent varieties, the char- 
acter of the plant has been improved, and its saccha- 
rine properties largely increased. Experiments have 

* This accounts, in some measure, for the low percentage of 
yield, and also for the high cost of sugar in former days; for the 
expenses were greater to work the poor beets, and less sugar was 
obtained, than is now done. In 1840 it required eighteen tons 
of beets to make a ton of sugar in the Zollverein. It now requires 
less than twelve tons. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 121 

conclusively shown, that seeds from beets rich in 
sugar, produce richer beets than are raised from the 
seed of those poorer in saccharine matter. 

Beets containing sixteen per cent, of sugar are not 
rare, and in one instance twenty-one per cent, was 
found in a variety produced by M. Vilmorin, near 
Paris. There is no reason to believe that the sac- 
charine qualit)^ of the beet has yet attained its com- 
plete development. 

The German method of selecting the white Sile- 
sian beets to bear seed the succeeding year is as fol- 
lows : — 

They are chosen, not from the piles after t]iey are 
gathered, but while they are still standing in the field 
rows. Medium-sized beets, grown in moderately rich 
soil, are preferred to those grown in land very highly 
manured. Plants should be selected whose roots, 
growing entirely beneath the surface, are shaped like 
a pear, and not like a turnip ; whose crown is single, 
and presents no cavity ; the longitudinal indentations 
on whose main root incline to a spiral rather than a 
straight direction ; wdiose foliage is not too luxuriant, 
but, standing close together, grows low to the ground 
in form like a large plate ; and the color of whose 
leaves is not tinged, spotted, nor fringed with red, but 
of a clear, bright green. 

If varieties other than the white Silesian are used, 
then the properties to be sought for in the plant for 
future seed-bearing, should be those which most nearly 
approach perfection in the given variety. 

The richness of a beet, either in saccharine, saline, 
or alkaline constituents, is determined by its specific 
6 



122 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

gravity. But as the saline and alkaline properties are, 
to a certain extent, developed under different circum- 
stances from those w^hich produce the highest saccha- 
rine qualities, and as it is well known under what 
circumstances the one or the other properties are most 
fully developed, it is necessary to choose good seed- 
beets from those grov/ing under conditions most fa- 
vorable for the production of sugar, and from these to 
select those having the greatest specific gravity. 

A soil rather sandy, and not too highly manured 
with stable manure, although it does not yield such 
heavy crops as one more fertile, nevertheless produces 
a beet that not only ripens earlier, but is also richer 
in sugar, comparatively free from saline and alkaline 
elements, and well suited for seed. 

The salts in stable manure are readily absorbed by 
the beet ; consequently the best course to take, in order 
to secure good seed-beets, is to sow the seed the pre- 
ceding year on a part of the field that has not been 
manured for two or three years, and is best adapted 
by nature to the purpose. Bone-dust, however, may 
be used with advantage in the drill as a fertilizer. 
From the time the plant first makes its appearance, 
the cultivation should be most thorough. When the 
beets are ripening, select those having the qualities 
described, and mark them to be dug when fully ripe. 
When this period arrives, the roots are very carefully 
taken up, the extreme end of the tap-root removed, 
the leaves cut off with a sharp knife to within an inch 
of the crown, instead of close, as in the case of those 
to be used in the factory. A trench in a dry, well- 
drained soil, and in a sheltered spot, is then dug two 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 1 33 

feet deep, five or six feet broad, and of the requisite 
length. The beets are carefully laid side by side in 
the trench, layer upon layer. Between each layer 
just sufficient soil is spread to separate the rows of, 
beets. As soon as the trench is full, the beets are laid 
so that the sides of the pile converge rapidly, assum- 
ing the form of an angular roof, the top of which is 
three feet above the surface of the ground. Earth is 
then put on to a thickness of eight inches, which is 
to be increased as the weather becomes colder. 

As early in the following spring as the soil is in 
suitable condition, a piece of land, sheltered from the 
wind, and that was deeply ploughed in fall, is se- 
lected for the plantation of the seed-beets. Land 
should be selected for this purpose which is as dis- 
tant as possible from other beets, in order to prevent 
the plants, when in flower, from being " crossed" by 
other varieties. 

Deep furrov^^s are made three feet apart, and holes 
are dug two feet apart in the furrows, of ample size 
for the reception of the root ; the earth in each hole 
is inade mellow with the spade, and two handfuls 
of bone-dust are incorporated with the soil. The 
beets are placed perpendicularly in the holes, w^ithout 
being bent, and the earth gradually put in and pressed 
about them with the hand. The crowns must be kept 
just below the surface. After the roots have been set 
out, and the earth thoroughly pressed against them 
with the foot, the ground must be dressed with the 
hoe, and one inch of earth, with a handful of bone- 
dust, placed on the crown of each plant, to protect it 
from frosts. 



124 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



As soon as the beets are up, thorough ^cultivation 
and weeding must be persistently followed. The beets 
should be earthed up with the double mould-board 
plough and the hoe, the poorest and weakest flower- 
stalks removed, and as the seed begins to form, the 
tips of the stalks should be pinched oft"". Harvesting is 
done before the extremities of the seed-bearing branches 
turn brovv'n. The stalks are cut off near to the ground, 
bound into small sheaves, containing eight or ten 
stalks, and kept until they are dry in a sunny and airy 
place. As soon as the stalks are well dried, the seed 
is thrashed out, dry, hot weather being more favorable 
for the operation. It is then winnowed and spread two 
or three inches deep on a dry and sunny spot, and occa- 
sionally stirred. When perfectly dry, it is put into 
sacks, not over a foot wide, and two and a half feet long, 
with labels attached, to describe the kind of the seed 
and the date of its production. The sacks are then 
suspended by cords in a dry, airy loft, in such manner 
that they do not touch each other, and are inaccessi- 
ble to rats, which are very fond of the seed. Seed 
thus saved retains its germinating power for several 
years. In fact, seed only a year old should not be 
sown, as it produces beets more liable to " go to seed'* 
than those obtained from old seed. 

In some parts of Germany, after the seed-beets are 
taken from the pits in which they have been kept 
through the winter, they are subjected to a test, by 
which those only having the greatest specific gravity 
are retained for planting. The beets are all thrown 
into water, and the earth carefully washed from them ; 
those which float are rejected, and the rest are reserved 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 1 25 

for the next test. Four or five vessels containing brine 
of different degrees of strength are then prepared, and 
the beets are placed one after another in the w^eakest 
brine. Those are rejected which float, and the re- 
mainder are subjected to the test in the next strongest 
brine, and so on, until those only are planted w^hich 
sink in the brine that is strongest. 

M. Vilmorin, the great seedsman of France, selects 
his seed-beets by making an accurate philosophical 
test of the density of the juice of each beet. For this 
purpose, with a sharp punch like an apple-corer, he 
cuts a piece out of the middle of the beet, punching it 
out with a wooden plug fitted to the aperture. This 
piece of beet he rasps, presses, and then filters its 
juice through a linen cloth into a •' prover," in which, 
with the densimeter and aerometer, he ascertains its 
exact density. He retains only, beets of a certain 
standard of density. The holes in these are filled 
with sand, and they are planted in the usual manner. 

A custom, borrowed from the Chinese, prevails in 
some parts of France, of making, before planting, 
three or four shallow, longitudinal cuts on the side of 
t)ie seed-beets (beginning an inch or two below the 
crown), which open during vegetation. The theory 
is, that roots are thrown out from these cuts, and the 
beet is thereby enabled to draw sustenance from a 
more extended area, throwing up a stouter flower- 
stalk, less likely to be influenced by the wind, and 
producing better and more abundant seed. 

Too much pains cannot be taken to plant the best 
seed, for beets vary so much in saccharine richness in 
districts where little attention is paid by farmers to 



126 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND. 

selecting the best kind, that many manufacturers test 
the beets before purchase, and pay according to quality, 
not quantity, some beets being really worth twice as 
much as others. 

Crops very rich in sugar are not so large as those of 
a poorer quality. 

Where beets are sold by the ton, and not by degree 
of richness, those containing twelve to twelve and a 
half per cent, afford the density upon which the 
interests of the farmer and manufacturer can best be 
united. 

In the infancy of the industry in this country, we 
shall be compelled to import seed. All varieties, and 
of the best qualities, not only of beets, but of all other 
plants, may be obtained, with certainty of being true 
to description, from Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co., of 
Paris. 

Manures. 

For the profitable production of beets in Europe, 
the liberal use of fertilizers is a necessity. The virgin 
soils of the west may not absolutely require it, in order 
to secure good crops, but there is no doubt that pro- 
ductiveness can be increased by the judicious use of 
manures ; and it is quite certain that the time will soon 
come when it will be absolutely necessary. The best 
fertilizers to produce large crops of beet, are human 
ordure, and that of horses, cattle, and sheep. The 
urine, and all liquid manures, should be saved, because 
they are richer in fertilizing properties, and assimilate 
more readily with plants than the solid portions of 
dung. There is, however, this objection to the use of 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 1 27 

all those fertilizers which are rich in salts, that, when 
freshly applied to a crop of beets, they cause the latter 
to flourish vigorously and give large returns, but the 
presence of salts is prejudicial to the economical ex- 
traction of sugar, and the roots abound in saline ele- 
ments that are absorbed from the manures. In Ger- 
many, where beets are taxed, and quality is of more 
importance than quantity, the beet is not sown on 
freshly manured land, but on soil that has not been 
enriched for one or two years. In France, on the 
contrary, where the sugar is taxed, and the object of 
the farmer is to get large crops, the beet is sown on 
soil highly manured the preceding fall. The conse- 
quences of these two systems arc, that the crops in 
France, although considerably heavier than those of 
Germany, do not possess as rich saccharine properties. 
The German beet is more than one per cent, richer 
than the French, owing to the facts, that it is by nature 
richer, that it grows in a colder climate, and, follow- 
ing the law of latitudes, secretes more sugar, while, 
at the same time, its growth not being so much stimu- 
lated by manures, the same amount of sugar is diffused 
through a smaller space. The average production of 
sugar on an acre of land in the two countries is about 
the same. 

The ordure of cattle produces cleaner, smoother, 
and handsomer roots, containing fewer salts, than that 
of men, horses, sheep, or swine. Indeed, there is 
quite a general prejudice against the use of sheep and 
hog manure on beets in Europe, whether well or ill 
founded I am not able to say. Many farmers fatten 
sheep on the pulp of beets, upon which they thrive 



128 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

admirably ; but the method is not universally approved 
even by those who practise it. They say that sheep 
manure is bad for the beet, but the disadvantage is 
in a measure compensated for, when the pulp is fed to 
sheep, by the excellent quality of mutton produced. 

Well-rotted, strawy manure is preferable to that 
without straw. If applied to the beet, w^ithout any 
preceding crop, it should be done in the fall, as directed 
on page 92 ; if employed in spring, it should be 
thoroughly " worked over," and made as fine as possi- 
ble. Stable manures may be advantageously com- 
posted with muck, with wood or coal ashes, or with 
the young beets which have been thinned out, if they 
are not all required for stock. Muck may be com- 
posted with lime, or ashes, either of wood or coal. 
The refuse of the sugar manufactory furnishes great 
quantities of fertilizing materials, most of which are of 
the very highest value. The earthy refuse of the 
wash-house, where the beets are cleansed before rasp- 
ing ; the little roots and fibres ; the decayed portions of 
such beets as it may be necessary to trim ; the scum 
of defecation ; the incrustations of the boilers, reser- 
voirs, and cisterns ; the worn-out sacs ; the waste and 
exhausted bone-black ; the ashes from the boilers ; and 
the exhausted lime of defecation, are of great value. 
They arc all sources of revenue to the European manu- 
facturer, and I have even seen mill-owners, besieged by 
applicants for the privilege of buying the mud accumu- 
lated in their factory yards from soil that fell off the 
wheels of wagons used in transporting beets. 

The scums and incrustations, the lime and the bone- 
black, should be mixed thoroughly together with an 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 1 29 

equal quantity of line soil, and applied either broad- 
cast in the spring before harrowing, or sprinkled about 
the plants at the time of cultivation. It is also an ex- 
cellent compost for seed-beets, and can be put into the 
holes and incorporated with the soil at the time the 
beets are " set out." 

Bone-dust and superphosphate of lime, particularly 
the former, are excellent fertilizers. Peruvian guano 
is a powerful stimulant, but its effects, when used 
alone, are not favorable ; it is better when mixed with 
the two previously named manures in the proportions 
of one of guano to two, or even three, of bone-dust or 
superphosphate of lime. These manures should be 
thoroughly mixed, and kept from the air for one week 
before they are used. 

Such of the beet leaves cut off in the fields as are 
not wanted for stock, when spread upon the ground 
and ploughed in while green, furnish an excellent 
manure, equal, if all are left, to six or eight loads of 
stable manure per acre. Linseed oil cake powdered, 
and sown broadcast before harrowing at the rate of 
half a ton or a ton to an acre, or sprinkled about the 
plants at the time of cultivation, is an excellent ferti- 
lizer. Bone-dust and wood-ashes, or bone-dust, ashes, 
and lime, in equal proportions, are excellent. Lime 
from gas-houses, thoroughly mixed with stable ma- 
nure, makes an excellent compost for the beet. Chlo- 
ride of sodium or common salt, which on some soils 
and for certain crops makes a good compost. Is very 
unfavorable for the sugar beet, unless mixed with 
certain other materials in the form of an artificial 
6* 



I30 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



fertilizer, which 1 shall hereafter describe, and which 
has produced great results. 

An artificial manure, manufactured by Emil GiJs- 
sefeld, of Hamburg, by treating the guano from Baker's 
Island with sulphuric acid, is in high repute in Ger- 
many. It is called GiJssefeld's superphosphate of 
Baker's guano, and is thus composed 



Phosphoric acid, . 
Magnesia and lime. 
Sulphate of lime, . 
Water, .... 
Organic substances. 
Alkaline salts, . . 
Other matters, . 



19.9 

17-3 
43.1 

16. 3 
I. 

.6 



100. 

Three adjoining pieces of land, containing .63 of 
an acre each, were cultivated with beets in the fol- 
lowing manner, and showed the given results. For 
the convenience of the reader the table is made on a 
basis of one entire acre ; — 



Number 
of the 
fields. 


Amount of 
superphos- 
phate, lbs. 


Peru 

guano, 
lbs. 


Quantity 

of beets, 

lbs. 


Quantity 
of beets, 
tons. 


Contents 
of sugar, 
per cent. 


I 
2 

3 


177 

355 
531 


177 
365 


39.534 
39.534 
30-158 


i3i 
131 
i3i 


13.49 

13-23 
13.63 



All manures having a basis of potassa, or that contain 
soluble phosphates, are of the highest value in the cul- 
ture of beets. 

It is said that the use of sulphate of potash, as ma- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 131 

nure, increases their saccliarine contents two or three 
per cent. Instances are recorded of beets so fertilized 
containing twenty per cent, of sugar. 

GiJssefeld also makes an artificial manure contain- 
ing fourteen per cent, of potash and thirteen per cent, 
phosphoric acid. Experiments go to show that it 
increases the yield of beets over that obtained on 
unfertilized land from twenty-five to thirty per cent., 
and the percentage of sugar about one half per cent. 
An artificial manure, containing seventeen per cent, 
of soluble phosphates, made by Gils & Co., of Ant- 
werp, costing $48 a ton of 2,240 pounds, was ap- 
plied to land in Saxony at the rate of 325 pounds 
per acre, or at a cost for manure of about seven 
dollars. 

The following were the results, as compared with a 
field precisely similar and well manured with stable 
manure : — Crop on an acre, with stable manure, 
31,064 pounds, or 13. 87 tons; with artificial guano, 
48,741 pounds, or 21.76 tons. Difierence in favor of 
guano, 17,677 pounds, or 7.89 tons. 

In seventeen cases recorded in Saxony, fields ma- 
nured with Peruvian guano, mixed with this fertilizer 
in the proportion of two of the former to three of the 
latter, produced, as compared with unmanured land 
of equal original condition, an increased crop of 3^ 
tons per acre. 

It is used in Saxony at the rate of over 12,000 tons 
a year. 

A Mr. Frank, of Stassfurt, in Prussia, near Magde- 
burg, has compounded an artificial manure from the 
refuse rock salt of the mines in his neighborhood. 



132 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



This manure, costing at Stassfurt about forty dollars 
per ton, contains the following constituents in the pro- 
portions set forth : — 



Sulphate of potash, . . 


. 18 to 


20 


pel 


r cent. 


" " magnesia, . 


. 18 " 


20 






" " lime, . . . 


. 3 " 


5 






Chloride of sodium, . . 


. 40 " 


42 






" " magnesium, . 


. 2 " 


3 






Magnesia, 


. 2 " 


3 






Water and sand, . . . 


. 17 " 


7 







TOO 100 

This manure is spread upon the land at the rate of 
175 to 350 pounds per acre, either in fall or spring, 
and ploughed in ; or it may be mixed with guano in 
the proportions of two of the former to three of the 
latter ; or it may be mixed and thoroughly incorpo- 
rated with stable manure. Experiments were tried 
with it in Waldau, Prussia, in 1864, on a large scale, 
no less than 500 tons of the manure having been em- 
ployed, at the rate of 180 to 350 lbs. to an acre. Fields 
containing from twenty-five to fifty acres were chosen 
for the trial : these were manured in the usual manner ; 
were then divided into equal parts, and the Stassfurt 
manure added to one of the parts. The greatest pains 
were taken to give it a fair test, and the following 
results were obtained. The yield of beets slightly 
exceeded that on other fields. To give an idea of the 
astonishing excess of sugar contained in beets pro- 
duced with the Stassfurt manure, the following table 
is submitted : — 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 



133 







Stiissfurt ma- 


Suprar in juice with 


Suo-ar in juice with- 


Fields. 




nure per acre, 


Stassfurt manure, 


out Stassfurt ma- 






cwts. 


per cent. 


nure, per cent. 




1 
2" 


none \ 






I < 


^ 


I. \ 


14.04 


12.42 






LO 


ro 


2 


2- 


none ) 

I. ] 


16.20 1 


c^ 
12.83 ^ 




Jr 


none ) 




^ 


3 { 


1 

2 

J 


I- S 


H-S^ t 


13-17 8, 






C« 


c3 


4 { 


none ( 

2j. ] 

none i 

I- ^ 


15.63 \ 


1443 t 


5 { 


2 

* 
i 


< 
14.38 


< 
13.30 



The following also shows the eftect of the Stassfurt 
fertilizer in other parts of Prussia : — 

Applied at the rate of 533 pounds to an acre, it 
increased the quantity of sugar in the juice of the 
beets over those raised without the manure from 12.82 
to 14.42 per cent. In another instance the increase 
was from 13.6 to 14.8 per cent. 

The best method of employing it seemed to be with 
bone-dust or phosphate of lime, in the proportions of 
one of the former to three of either of the latter. 
Guano and Stassfurt manure, with bone-dust or phos- 
phate of lime, in the proportions of one each of the 
former to three of either of the latter, have been ap- 
plied with excellent results. 

Stable manure alone will not supply the materials 
taken from the soil by crops. For this purpose arti- 
ficial fertilizers are required. Chemistry not only 
teaches us of what materials these fertilizers should 
be composed, but also provides them. According to 
Hall and Ogston, English chemists, the amount of 



134 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



solid material removed from a field with every ton 
of beets is as follow^s : — 





Roots. 






Leaves. 




lbs. lbs. 


Potash, .... 


4.99 . . . ^M 


Soda, 


3.02 






2.52 


Lime, 


. .41 






3-31 


Magnesia, . . . 


•43 






3-27 


Oxide of Iron, . . , 


.12 . 






•52 


Phosphoric acid, 


. .66 






1.94 


Sulphuric acid, . 


. .6s 






2.20 


Chloride of soda, . 


. 5.29 






12.82 


Silica, 


• -54 






.76 



16. II 



35-20 



Calculating the average yield at tvs^enty tons to an 
acre, and assuming that the leaves, as w^ell as the 
roots, are removed, there would be taken from each 
acre 1026^^^^^ pounds of solid material. 

In order to maintain the fertility of the soil, it will 
be necessary to return this amount to the land. Sta- 
ble manure will not provide all the requisite materials, 
and the deficiency must be supplied with properly 
composed artificial fertilizers. 

Barral says to French agriculturists, " Buy artificial 
manures, but above all increase your stable manure." 



Rotation of Crops. 

The necessity of a rotation of crops is too well 
established to be discussed — the only question is, 
What is the best succession ? I am aware that some 
farmers, particularly at the west, proceed upon the 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 135 

theory, that the fertility of their land is inexhaustible, 
cultivating the same crop year after year upon the 
same soil, and in too many instances without manure, 
I have seen fields upon v\^hich corn had been raiseJ. 
for twenty-tvs^o successive years v^^ithout manure — 
a folly even greater than Crespel records, when he 
states that he cultivated sugar beets for fifteen succes- 
sive years on the same land. This method of farming 
— if it can be called farming — is pernicious and sui- 
cidal, and should never be copied. In many parts of 
Europe the system of rotation is biennial, namely, 
wheat and beets ; but it is never adopted by the best 
cultivators, and is rapidly falling into disfavor. In 
some countries beets are raised on the same land 
twice, and in others three times, in five years. The 
triennial system is the one generally in use ; but among 
the very best cultivators, beet is raised on the same 
soil only once in four, or even five, years. 

I shall give the crops often employed in Europe in 
the triennial and quadrennial systems of rotation : — 

Triennial System. 
ist year, oats manured, Or oats, 

2d " beets, beets manured, 

3d " wheat. wheat. 

Quadrennial System, 
ist year, wheat, Or clover, 

2d " beets manured, rye or oats, 

3d " barley or oats, beets manured, 

4th " clover. wheat. 

Where wheat is not much cultivated, rye may take 



136 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

its place. Potatoes, if well manured, or barley, may 
take the place of oats. 

The beet is excellent to precede all grain crops. It 
is a good successor of potatoes well manured, or of 
corn, and especially of rye or oats. It is a good suc- 
cessor of tobacco. 

It is a bad successor of clover ; and worse still of 
turnips, carrots, or forage beets. 

The quadrennial system of rotation permits quite a 
range in the selection of crops, and change is bene- 
ficial to the soil, and consequently to the crops. It 
would be desirable so to arrange the fields, that clover 
should not be raised on the same soil often er than 
once in eight years. 

Beet Pulp. 

After the juice is expressed from the rasped beet, 
the dry pulp remaining is an admirable food for cat- 
tle, sheep, swine, or fowls, of which vast numbers are 
fed in the sugar-producing districts of Europe. The 
average amount of pulp is twenty per cent, of the 
original weight of beets, and it is almost a universal 
custom for farmers to contract with manufacturers 
to receive back in pulp twenty per cent, of the weight 
of beets furnished. For this the fca'mer pays two 
to two and a half dollars per ton. If the manufac- 
turer has any pulp remaining after his contracts with 
the farmers are filled, he sells it to others at two dol- 
lars and seventy-five cents to three dollars per ton. 

Repeated experiments have proved that for feeding 
stock, three tons of pulp are fully equal in value to 
one ton of the best hay. Cattle are very fond of it, 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. I37 

and by its use are fattened for the market In one hun- 
dred days. 

The method of feeding stock upon it, employed at 
Masny, by the Messrs. Fievet, the model farmers of 
France, was the following : — 

Each ox was allowed daily * 

80 pounds of pulp, 
5 " " chopped straw, 
5 " " oil-cake. 
Each cow was allowed daily 

70 pounds of pulp, 
5 " " chopped straw, 

5 " " oil-cake. 
Each sheep was allowed daily 

6 pounds of pulp, 

^ " " chopped straw, 

^ " " oil-cake, 
I " " chaff. 

They fattened in this manner 800 head of cattle 
and 3000 sheep every year. 

The Messrs. Fievet recommended the use of chopped 
cornstalks and a small quantity of Indian meal for 
the Western United States. 

Chaptal says of the pulp, " This food is almost 
dry ; it has not the disadvantages of grasses or roots, 
nor of dry forage. It does not ferment, and is not 
laxative, like the former, nor does it heat and produce 
constipation, like the latter. It contains almost all the 
nutritive jDrinciples of the beet." 

In fact, water is the chief article taken from the 



138 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

beet by rasping and pressing, and there still remains 
from four and a half to six and a half per cent, 
of sugar in the residuum, besides other nutritious 
matter. 

Dombasle recommends it, especially for sheep, and 
also for milch cows, staging that the quantity, as well 
as the quality, of the milk, and the color of the butter, 
ire much improved b}/ its use. 

M. Cail, the wealthy and enterprising owner of 
" La Briche," — a splendid farm in the department of 
Indre et Loire, — mixes his pulp with chopped straw, 
in the proportion of five sixths of the former to one 
sixth of the latter. To the oxen, for fattening, he gives 
150 pounds of this mixture in the winter months ; to 
milch cows, no pounds; and to working-cattle, from 
100 to 150 pounds daily. 

A liberal daily allowance for an ox is 75 pounds, 
for a cow 60 pounds, and for a sheep 6 pounds, with 
chopped straw, and a little oil-cake, or meal. Conse- 
quently, if a farmer raises 100 tons of beets, and takes 
back from the manufacturer 20 tons of pulp, he has 
the means of feeding, during the five months from the 
first of November to the first of April, 4 oxen, or 5 
cows, or 50 sheep. The manufactory that consumes 
24,000 tons of beets provides 4,800 tons of pulp, with 
which may be fed, for the five most costly months of 
the year, when there is no pasturage, 960 oxen, or 
1,200 cows, or 12,000 sheep. 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 139 

Preservation of the Pulp. 

Beet pulp may be kept perfectly good for several 
years. I have seen at Masny cattle eat with avidity 
that which was two years old. 

The method of preservation there adopted was to 
dio- a ditch of any required length, eight or nine feet 
de'^p and of the same width, in a soil so dry and 
hard'that there was no danger of the sides crumbling. 

The bottom of this ditch was a litde lower on one 
side than on the other, to permit any water that might 
exude from the mass to settle in the lower part. The 
pulp was then packed and trodden solid into the ditch, 
raised one or two feet above the surface at the sides 
of the trench to allow for the settling of the mass, 
then built up into the form of a sharp roof, and the 
whole covered with one and one half to two feet of 
earth, beaten solid with the back of a spade. 

Where the soil is not of a nature to allow the walls 
to stand safely, the pit is walled with bricks laid in 
cement. 

Leaves. 

The practice of plucking from the beets a portion 
of their leaves for feeding stock prevails in some dis- 
tricts, but it is entirely unadvisable. When it is done, 
the stripping begins in the month of August. Two 
or three leaves are taken from each plant, until a sutti- 
cient supply is obtained for the daily wants of the 

'^The reasons why the practice is a bad one are, that, 
the leaves having important functions to perform, the 



140 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 

removal of the foliage impairs those functions. Na- 
ture also makes an effort to repair the loss, and new 
leaves form at the expense of sugar in the root. The 
period of maturity is also retarded ; consequently the 
crop is less likely to keep w^ell, beets perfectly ripened 
being more easily preserved than those which are less 
ripe. 

♦ The general custom is at the time of harvest to feed 
to the stock all the leaves they require, and to spread 
the remainder on the fields w^hen they are cut off, and 
plough them in vs^hile yet fresh and green. In this 
v^ay they serve an admirable purpose as manure. 

But they are sometimes gathered and put in layers 
into trenches. Between each layer coarse salt is sprin- 
kled ; the pile is then covered with a layer of straw, and 
finally a thick coat of earth is added. 

Leaves used as Fodder for Milch Cows. 

The effect produced on milch cows by this food, 
and also the method adopted for preserving the leaves, 
are shown in the recorded experiments of Drs. Wels 
and Tod of Maiz-Blanco, in Moravia. 

The experiment was made with six cows of the 
race of that country. Their conditions were as nearly 
similar in age, size, weight, yield of milk, and dura- 
tion of milking, as could be desired for a fair test. 

For eight to tv\^elve weeks they were fed daily with 
thirty-five pounds of beet pulp, five pounds of salted 
leaves, and six pounds of chopped barley straw. They 
gave regularly about the same quantity of milk in the 
aggregate and individually. After that time, com- 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. I41 

mencing February 7, three of the co%vs, designated as 
A, received each forty pounds of pulp, six pounds 
barley straw and half an ounce of salt per day for 
four weeks. During the same time each of the three 
cows, designated as B, received daily twenty-six and 
two thirds pounds of pulp and six pounds barley straw ; 
they also received daily, of salted leaves, in addition, 
for the first week, thirteen and one half pounds ; for 
the second week, sixteen and one half pounds ; for 
the third week, twenty pounds ; and for the fourth 
week, twenty-six and one half pounds. 

The result was, that the amount of milk given by 
the cows A fell gradually in the four weeks from an 
average of 25.78 pounds per day to tvv^enty pounds 
per day, while the cows B increased their average 
daily production from 26y§^ to SiyVu^ pounds. 

During the next four weeks the cows A were fed in 
the same manner that ^he cows B had been, and the 
cows B were put upon the old diet of the cows A, with 
this exception, that they received, besides the daily al- 
lowance of forty pounds of pulp and six pounds of 
barley straw, an additional daily allowance of pulp 
to the extent of twenty-six and one half pounds the 
fifth week, twenty pounds the sixth week, sixteen and 
one half pounds the seventh, and thirteen and one 
half pounds the eighth week. 

The result was, that the cows A, now fed on the 
leaves, gradually increased their average flow of milk, 
until, at the end of the second period of four weeks, 
the yield had risen from 20 to 291^0^^ pounds, or con- 
siderably more than that at the beginning of the ex- 
periment eight weeks before, while the daily yield of 



142 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



COWS B, fed chiefly on pulp, fell from 31x^(7 to 2iy2jj5^ 
pounds. 

The following is a tabular statement of the result 
for the first four weeks, and of the yield of cows A 
for the last four weeks : — 



Cows. 


Quantity 
of pulp. 


Quantity of 
straw. 


Quantity 
01 leF.ves. 


Yiold of milk, 
first four weeks. 


Yield of milk. | 
last four weeks. 


A 
B 
A 


lbs. 
3360 
2240 
2240 


lbs. 
504 


lbs. 

161O 
161O 


lbs. 
618.44 

834.69 


lbs. 
761.36 



The daily yield of milk from cows A, when fed 
upon leaves, rose from 20 pounds to 23.75 in the fifth 
week, 26.87 in the sixth, 28.44 ^^ ^^^^ seventh, and 
29.53 in the eighth. 

The milk produced by cows, — 



A in ist and 2d week, on pulp, averaged 2.8' 
B " " on leaves, " 3.7 

A in 3d and 4th week, on pulp, " 3. 
B " " on leaves, " 3.9 

A in 5th and 6th week, " " 3.2 

A 7th " 8th " " " 3.6 



^ butter. 

a 
a 
u 



The experiment ended April 3d. 

The conclusions are, that salted leaves can be pre- 
served ; that their use, in conjunction with pulp, in- 
creases the flow of milk and yield of butter ; and that 
they are preferable to pulp alone. 

The weight of leaves is about twenty per cent, of 
the weight of the roots ; therefore a factory that con- 
sumes 24,000 tons of beets annually furnishes 4,800 



CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. I43 

tons of pulp, and the beets furnish 4,800 tons of 
leaves — an amount of fodder sufficient to feed nearly 
2,000 oxen, or 2,500 cows, or 24,000 sheep for five 
months. 

The following method is adopted for presei'ving 
leaves of the sugar beet : — 

Ditches are dug and walled with brick, backed with 
clay, and laid in cement, so that the interior is nine 
feet long, seven feet wide, five feet deep, and perfectly 
impervious to water. A layer of leaves, three or four 
inches thick, is spread on the bottom ; this is sprinkled 
with coarse salt ; then a layer of chopped straw one 
inch thick ; then another layer of leaves ; and so on, 
until the reservoir is filled. These are all packed 
down as solid as possible, and are then covered with 
six or eight inches of long straw ; the whole is pro- 
tected with earth, or, better still, with boards, held in 
their places by stones. About 225 pounds of salt 
are required for each pit. 

Advantages of Beet Culture to I^armei's. 

The introduction of beet sugar manufacture into the 
United States would be of great benefit to farmers. It 
would insure to them superior methods of agriculture, 
increased crops, more remunerative prices, home mar- 
kets, and enhanced value of farms. It would create 
industry, and diversify labor, thereby increasing the 
general prosperity, intelligence, and happiness of the 
community. It would eventually reduce the prices of 
sugar, of bread, and of meat, and render the United 
States more independent of foreign countries. 



APPENDIX. 



Since the foregoing pages were written, considerable in- 
formation has been acquired, which throws additional light 
upon the subject treated of in this volume, particularly in re- 
lation to the cost and quality of American beets. 

As regards cost, the estimates of cultivators, based upon re- 
sults on their own farms, vary from 75 cents to $3.75 per ton.* 

P. T. Qiiinn, of Newark, New Jersey, manager of the farm 
of the late Professor Mapes, says, that after land has been 
" broken up" he can cultivate sugar beets at $16 per acre, in 
the best manner, " not letting a weed show itself," and ob- 
tain crops of from 25 to 30 tons per acre. The above cost 
covering every expense, including that of harvest. 

J. C. Thompson, of Staten Island, says he has obtained 40 
tons of sugar beets from an acre, and that he can certainly 
get 30 tons at a cost not exceeding $25, and by extra pains, 
could obtain 50 tons. 

Emory Rider has raised 30 tons per acre, at Hackensack, 
New Jersey, and counts with certainty upon 20 tons, at a cost 
not exceeding $28, including "pitting" the beets. 

Hon. Ezra Cornell, of Ithaca, New York, has raised 20 tons 
per acre, and is confident that all expenses cannot exceed $30, 
or at most $35 per acre. He believes that beets would be a 
profitable crop at $2.50 per ton. 

Sugar beets have been cultivated on a large scale in 
Illinois, upon the farm of a wealthy land owner, at a cost 

* As the ton is generally reckoned at 2000 pounds in the United States, 
the fig-ures in this Appendix will be based on that weight, although in 
the preceding volume the ton was reckoned at 2240 pounds. 

(144) 



APPENDIX. 



45 



of $30 per acre, including breaking up the prairie. Crop 
on raw prairie ground 10 tons per acre ; crop on improved 
land 15 tons per acre. He believes there is no difficulty, after 
two or three years of cultivation, in raising beets at $2 per 
ton. 

The late William H. Belcher, of St. Louis, believed, as the 
result of very extended and particular inquiries and observa- 
tion, that beet could be raised at $2 per ton. 

Theodore Gennert, of Chatsworth, Illinois, who raised 400 
acres of beets last year, stated that they cost less than $3 
per ton, and believes that when the soil is fully subdued they 
can be raised a good deal cheaper. 

Maurice A. Mot raised in 1862 ten acres of beets at Cherry 
Valley, near Newark, Ohio. The soil, with the exception of 
little more than an acre, was quite poor, and the crop very 
light on the poor land, but his beets cost him only $2.65 per 
ton. Several of the neighboring farmers offered to cultivate 
another crop of beets on the same ground the following year 
at $10 per acre. 

Joseph Sullivan, of Columbus, Ohio, says, "I have no 
doubt that an avemge yield of 30 tons of beets per acre, upon 
good, suitable soil, moderately well cultivated, can be secured. 
Corn ground which produces sixty-five bushels per acre, may 
be easily made to produce 30 or 35 tons of beets." 

The late John W. Massey, of Morris, Illinois, wrote in 
1S65, in relation to cost of cultivating beets, and their yield 
in his region, "that it would take a little more work per acre 
than corn, and probably less than potatoes. His experience 
of more than 20 years in Illinois led him to believe that the 
cost of cultivating an acre of beets would be about the same 
as for sorghum, say about $30, and that the crop was 15 to 
20 tons per aci^e. 

John W. Walsh, of Chicago, published in 1863 a pamphlet, 
" Observations on Beet Sugar and Sugar-beet Culture," in 
which he stated that 15 tons per acre was a fair yield, but 18 
to 24 was not uncommon. That he had known of frequent 
instances of crops of 36, 39, and 42 tons, and even as high as 
90 tons being produced on rich loams. 
10 



146 APPENDIX. 

Mr. Sanford describes, in the Genesee Farmer, a crop 
grown by him of 63 tons per acre. 

T. E. Pajson, of Deer Island, Boston Harbor, raised 73 
tons long red mangel-wurzel on an acre of land in 1866. 

Dr. Lettson has raised in England 120 tons mangel-wurzel, 
tops and roots, on one acre. This is equivalent to about 96 
tons of roots. Even this enormous yield has doubtless been 
surpassed in the same country by scientific culture, for the 
writer has heard descriptions of crops that he cannot now 
authenticate, of over 100 tons of roots per acre. The yield 
of sugar beets is usually about two thirds that of mangel- 
wurzel. 

The average yield of sugar beets in France is over 20 tons 
per acre. It often rises to 50 tons, while instances of 60, 70, 
and even 90 tons are not uncommon. 

In Germany the yield varies from 10 to 25 tons. 

Figures, made by Mr. Walsh, to whom reference has just 
been made, indicate that in his judgment beets can be raised 
in the West for less than $2 per ton, and that at $3 per ton 
they would prove to be very profitable to the farmer. The 
average price paid by European manufacturers is less than 
$3 per ton. 

The estimate of the Agricultural Department of the United 
States is, that they can be raised at a cost to sugar manufac- 
turers of $2.60 per ton. 

In the light of all this testimonj', as well as that on pages 
26 to 39 of this volume, together with the additional fact that 
beets were furnished by Western farmers in 1866, on contract, 
for $3.50 per ton, it is not deemed extravagant to assume that 
sugar manufacturers can be supplied with beets in the West 
at $4 per ton. 

The next point to establish is the saccharine property of 
the beet of America as compared with that of Europe. 

The average percentage of sugar in the French beet is 11^, 
and in the German beet 13. This is the result of many years 
of scientific culture, by which the original saccharine proper- 
ties of the beet have been increased. 

There have been hundreds of tests made in this country 



APPENDIX. 



147 



within a short time, showing a range of fix)m 8 to more than 
17^ per cent, of sugar. These experiments were made for the 
most part upon poorly cultivated beets, grown for feeding to 
stock, and not for sugar making, consequently bulk, and not 
quality, was the desideratum. It is well known that a skill- 
ful use of manures will increase the saccharine properties of 
beets. None of the American beets tested were grown under 
the most favorable circumstances, yet the result of the tests 
is entirely satisfactory. 

The following table, showing the results of a few tests, in- 
dicates the richness of American beets : 



Kind of Beet. 
White Sugar, 



Red Top 7 

Mangel-Wurzel, ) 

a 

Green Top > 
Mangel-Wurzel, > 

Yellow Globe, . 



Where raised. 
Hackensack, N. J. 



Percentage 
of Sugar. 



Roxbury, Mass., 

a u 

Dedham, " 
Shirley, '' 

a ii 

Deer Island, " 
Chatsworth, Illinois 

Dedham, Mass., . . 
Deer Island, " . . 
Morris, Illinois, . . 



^ aver 



Deer Island, Mass., 






I2tV 

i3tV 

IO-2_ 

9 fa) 14. 
age 12. 



9tV- 
8tV 



It will be seen by the above table, that the white sugar beet, 
exclusive of those raised at Chatsworth, averaged I2^9_%. 
That those raised in Chatsworth averaged 12^%. The 
Mangel-Wurzel average 9^^%, and the Yellow Globe con- 
tained 8 Jg%- 



T^S APPENDIX. 

These tests, made in 1866, as well as others made during 
the past six years, prove conclusively to the writer's mind 
that American beets are richer in sugar than the French. 
That thej are as rich as those of Germany, and that by prop- 
er culture, their saccharine properties may be increased at 
least one per cent. 

If, then, it has been proved that we can economically raise 
beets in the United States as rich or richer in sugar than 
those of Europe, it only remains, in order to insure inde- 
pendence of the rest of the world for our future supplies of 
sugar, to prove that sugar can be extracted from them at 
prices enabling the manufacturers to compete with foreign 
countries. 

The Germania Sugar Company of Chatsworth, Illinois, to 
which reference is made on page 62, has solved the problem, 
and although the enterprise has not as yet proved an entire 
success, yet the causes of its partial and temporary failure are 
so clear, and so easy to avoid, that no person conversant with 
the facts can deny that the Company has proved that the 
manufacture of beet sugar is not only entirely practicable, 
but must inevitably be highly remunerative. 

I annex a report, made to the Directors of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad Company, by R. W. Bender, of New York, who 
visited Chatsworth in January, at the request of the Com- 
pany, to inquire into the cause of the troubles which were 
encountered. Mr. Bender is a practical refiner of large ex- 
perience, and his opinion on the subject of which he treats is 
conclusive with all who know him, for in his great desire not 
to mislead others, he is very conservative in the expression 
of his opinion, taking care to understate rather than to over- 
state his estimates of the practicability of manufacturing beet 
sugar in the United States. 

To the Directors of the Illinois Cejitral Railroad Company: 
Gentlemen : 
Having recently returned from a visit to the Beet Sugar 
Works at Chatsworth, Livingston Co., Illinois, I now report 
the result of my investigation of this subject. 



APPENDIX. 149 

The works are owned bj the Germania Beet Sugar Com- 
pany, located as above, and are under the management of the 
Messrs. Gennert, the original projectors of the enterprise. 

They commenced operations for the season of 1866, by 
planting four hundred acres of land, mostly fresh prairie, 
from which they have raised a crop of more than four thou- 
sand tons of fine beets, at a cost, according to their estimate, 
of less than four dollars per ton. 

The beets are of the White Silesian and Imperial varieties, 
and both have done well. At the time of harvest, Messrs. 
Gennert tested the roots from all parts of their farm, and 
found the jiiice to contain from nine to thirteen and a half 
per cent, of sugar, by the Soleil Polariscope. The average 
of all the tests showing twelve per cent. 

This result is confirmed by the investigations made by 
direction of the Belcher Sugar Refining Company of St. 
Louis ; the tests they made, showing an average of twelve 
per cent, of sugar in the juice, and in some cases as high as 
fourteen per cent. 

At the time of my visit (Jan. 29th, 1867), I obtained what 
I considered fair samples of the beet roots, and found them 
to contain from nine to eleven per cent, of sugar (in the 
juice), with foreign substances amounting to about five per 
cent. ; not a very undue proportion, considering the fact that 
the roots were principally grown in fresh prairie soil, and 
that the fall season was a wet one. My analysis of the juice 
fully confirmed the results obtained by the Messrs. Gennert 
and the Belcher Refining Company three months previously, 
at the time of harvest, and when the process of sugar manu- 
facturing should have commenced. 

The quality of beets, shown by the foregoing experiments, 
would yield 7I per cent, of raw sugar, in color equal to fair 
refining, but intrinsically much superior; or it would yield 
5.J per cent, of sugar equal in every respect to New York re- 
fined "B." 

The beets raised by the Messrs. Gennert, if successfully 
and rapidly worked up, would have produced not less than 
450,000 pounds of refined sugar. 



150 APPENDIX. 

I learned from Mr. Gennert the following particulars of the 
difficultities they have met with in carrying on their opera- 
tions since harvest : 

In the first place, their machinery, instead of being com- 
pleted during the summer, so as to be ready for work by the 
time when the beets were ripe (in September), was only got 
in starting order by the 5th of December last. The^'- then 
commenced operations with green inexperienced hands, and 
during the first few days made very slow progress, notwith- 
standing the beets were found to work and yield well. 

After five days of work, December loth, the vacuum-pan 
collapsed, which misfortune entirely stopped all work until a 
new pan could be obtained. This was ready with the be- 
ginning of the new year, when they commenced again, only 
to meet with new discouragements. First, the supply of 
water proved to be inadequate to their requii-ements, and 
steps were immediately taken to deepen the wells, so as to 
reach below the hard pan, and they expect now to have ob- 
tained a full supply of water. The next, and to a sugar man- 
ufacturer the most serious difficulty of all, was a too limited 
supply of steam, which they were trying to remedy at the 
time I was there. They have depended on five two-flue boil- 
ers, which were not well set, the smoke being carried through 
a narrow breach flue into a narrow and low sheet-iron smoke- 
stack ; the entire arrangement being not well adapted for the 
proper consumption of the Lasalle or Fairbury coal. The 
workmen about the place seemed to think the insufficient 
supply of steam the main drawback to success. In all other 
respects the works appear to be well appointed. They are 
built to run on the centrifugal system, and are provided with 
clarifiers, scum-presses, bone-black filters, retorts, vacuum- 
pan, and such other machinery as is generally found in a 
manufactory of this class. 

All machinery is of modern construction and well adapted 
to the work. The capacity of the manufactory is estimated 
to be equal to 50 tons of beets per day. During the few days 
the works have been in operation they have turned out about 
eighteen thousand pounds of sugar (two thirds of which was 



APPENDIX. 



151 



equal to N. Y. Ref. B.), which was the product of an unknown 
quantity of beet roots, as I found they had not kept any rec- 
ord of the quantity brought from the pits to the factory. 
The pulp was not watered in the centrifugals, so as to save 
evaporation. The juice was boiled blank, and placed in 
large tanks to crystallize. This course was mainly taken to 
economize the use of steam. The first product granulated in 
twenty-four hours and the second in three days, so as to go 
in centrifugal machines. I could see nothing of the third 
product. I very much regret that the Messrs. Gennert could 
not give me an accurate account of the cost of cultivating 
their beets ; the estimate, as I have already said, was less 
than four dollars per ton. It is also to be regretted that no 
account of the weight of beets taken to the factory was kept, 
although any calculation made on that basis would be un- 
fair, considering the irregular operations of the factory and 
the deterioration in the saccharine properties of the roots 
from long delay in working. 

Notwithstanding all the difficulties the Messrs. Gennert 
have encountered (most of which, however, were avoidable 
and should have been foreseen), I found that they manifest 
no feeling of discouragement, and I fully anticipate their suc- 
cess another season. The result of my investigations, added 
to my previous knowledge of the subject, more than ever con- 
firms my belief in the speedy and successful development of 
this branch of agricultural industry. And this feeling is al- 
ready widely entertained through the West, where suitable 
lands and abundance of fuel can be had at low prices, in the 
immediate vicinity of a ready market for all products of the 
manufactory. 

In conclusion I will say, that I know of nothing to prevent 
an individual or company, possessed of a knowledge of the 
subject, making this a business of large profits from the be- 
ginning. 

Very truly yours, 
(Signed,) R. W. Bender. 

New York, Feb. 12, 1867. 



153 APPENDIX. 

I also annex extracts from a letter written by Charles 
Belcher, President of the Belcher Sugar Refining Company 
of St. Louis. 

***** 

To-day Mr. Holm had a short letter from Theodore Gen- 
nert, who returned a fortnight since. He states that they 
are still making sugar, and with satisfactory results, and will 
continue to work their beets until it becomes necessary to 
look after out of door work. He speaks well of the quality 
of the juice. 

***** 

From all I know or have heard, I would suppose $4 per 
ton, $40 per acre, a very liberal estimate for the cost of rais- 
ing and harvesting beets. Gennert told me he kept a pretty 
accurate account of the cost of raising his crop of beets two 
years since, and that $3 per ton would cover it. I would 
think also that if properly prepared for the work, with suita- 
ble buildings, machinery, apparatus, and fixtures, and with 
well-informed and judicious management, the cost of mak- 
ing sugar from the beets should not exceed $4 per ton of 
beets. 

I cannot see any good reason why, with the right prepara- 
tions and good management, about as good results cannot 
be obtained from beet sugar making in this country as in 
Europe. 

***** 

Mr. Gennert was not properly prepared for working his 
beets advantageously and profitably; he has made mistakes 
in his calculations and arrangements, and his business this 
year will not be a success ; but he seems to have shown us 
that beets can be raised in sufficient quantity, and we have 
evidence that they have sugar in them that would pay well 
for the working in Europe. 

I have felt that it would be a great advantage to this coun- 
try if the manufacture of beet sugar could be successfully 
introduced, and we have assisted Gennert's enterprise by 
loaning him machinery and subscribing to his company, to 



APPENDIX. 153 

aid in developing it; and I have all along had strong faith 
in its practicability, and still have it. 

***** 

Yours truly, 
(Signed,) Charles Belcher. 

St. Louis, March 19, 1807. 

I also annex an extract from a letter written by Mr. Ben- 
der on the subject : — 

New York, March 10, 18G7. 
***** 

Ere long I expect to see general attention directed to this 
industry. An impetus once, and properly given, must de- 
velop the manufacture of domestic sugar rapidly, spreading 
its benefits all over the land, enriching the farmer and the 
mechanic, opening new channels of support to thousands, 
stimulating good husbandry and inventive genius. As early 
as 1861 I felt convinced that the "sorghum cane," from the 
chemical nature of its juice, and from the difficulty of bring- 
ing it to maturity, would prove a failure as a sugar producer, 
and only a partial success as a syrup producer, and that for 
the range of the Northern States, the sugar beet only pos- 
sessed all the qualifications for extensive and reliable pro- 
duction of sugar in an eminent degree. I induced, at that 
time, William H. Belcher, of the St. Louis and Chicago refin- 
eries, to import some beet seed from Europe, which, for exper- 
iment, we distributed amongst farmers in the West, and the 
results were of the most encouraging character. Further 
investigations by us and others in the following years satis- 
fied us that the yield per acre was 10 to 20 tons, at a cost of 
less than $4 per ton; that the saccharine qualities of the 
American beet are equal to those of the European, and that 
there is no more difiiculty in making sugar in America from 
beets than there is in Europe ; and further, that from sugar- 
beet a good merchantable raw sugar can be produced at a 
cost of less \.\-\z.nfive cents per pound, such sugar being worth 
in New York to-day, taking the color as a standard, 10 cents ; 
but intrinsically, its value would be much greater ; the small- 
er admixture of grape sugar warranting to the refiner a 
larger yield of refined sugar, and less in syrup. 



154 APPENDIX. 

By the death of Mr. Belcher, two years since, this industry 
lost one of its warmest supporters. For my own part, I never 
had sufficient liberty of action to engage myself in this business, 
although I have constantly endeavored to interest people in a 
matter which I consider of the utmost importance to this nation. 
(Signed,) R. W. Bender. 

I also annex extracts from a letter written by A. J. Cor- 
ning, a chemist and sugar refiner, who has been for several 
years engaged in the Adams Sugar Refinery of Boston : 

New York, March 15, 18G6. 
***** 

All my inquiries tend to convince me that beets can be 

raised under $4 per ton, and from my experience in refineries 

I should say that the sugar can be extracted easily at 3 cents 

per pound. Assuming the yield of sugar to be 6 per cent., 

which is much below the usual yield (a German who has 

had charge of a manufactory in Germany told me that he 

obtained 95 %, while a neighbor obtained 9I yo), we would 

have the following as the cost per pound of sugar : 

2240 lbs. beets $4.00 

6 % sugar = 134 lbs. (a) 3 cents 4.02 

Total cost per ton $8.02 

134 lbs. sugar (a) 6 cents 8.04 

Giving the cost of producing at 6 cents per lb. for sugar a 
great deal better for refining than the sugar we import for 
that purpose at from 9 to 12 cents per lb. The sugar is what 
refiners term "strong" (containing very little foreign mat- 
ter), and yields a larger percentage of refined siagar than that 
of Cuba. 

The sugar of the beet is identical with that of the cane, and 
possesses the same sweetening power. 

The manufacture of beet sugar in this country is deserv- 
ing of the highest consideration, both as regards the de- 
velopment of our agricultural, manufacturing, and commer- 
cial interests. 

(Signed,) A. J. Corning. 



APPENDIX. 155 

Mr. Bender and Mr. Corning are both confident that an 
abundant supply of beets can be obtained by manufacturers 
at from $3 to $4 per ton; that they can be manufactured 
into sugar at from $3.50 to $4 per ton ; and that they will 
certainly yield 6 % of white sugar, worth in Chicago at least 
fourteen cents per pound. 

Assuming that their figures are correct, of which there is 
not a particle of doubt, and taking their highest estimates as 
the basis for a calculation, the following result could be pro- 
duced by a company with $350,000 capital, which is sufiicient 
to erect a mill of a capacity to work 30,000 tons of beets each 
season. 

30,000 tons of beets, costing $4 per ton . . .$120,000 

30,000 " " to work $4 " ... 120,000 

$240,000 
Producing 
1,800 tons sugar (being 6 %) at 14 cents per lb., 

or $280 per ton $504,000 

6,000 tons pulp ra) $2 • 12,000 

900 " molasses (® $20 i8,oOo 

$534,000 
Less expenses * . 240,000 

Profit (being 84 % on capital), 294,000 

In the pamphlet of Mr. Walsh, to which reference has been 
made, he says, — 

"The introduction of beet sugar as a staple product of the 
United States, but especially for the vast fertile prairies of 
the West, has claimed the profound attention of statesmen 
and eminent practical citizens for more than a quarter of a 
century. Much has been written upon it; much information 
has been diifused; many interesting and thorough experi- 
ments have been made, and the general results have been 
in the highest degree satisfactory. All the inquiries and 
investigations that have been made, and facts gathered. 



56 



APPENDIX. 



strengthen the conviction that it is only necessary to engage 
systematically in the culture of the root and the manufacture 
of sugar in the United States, to insure results of the highest 
national importance, and establish in our borders a tillage 
that will improve our system of husbandry, an employment 
that will give a wider scope to our energy and industry, and 
a manufacture that will supply us in abundance with a great 
staple of consumption, for the largest portion of which we 
are now dependent upon other countries to supply. 

" In 1837-8 Henry Clay was actively interested in the ques- 
tion of beet sugar as a crop for the United States. He had 
watched the rise and progress of this industry in France; 
had made himself familiar with the details of the culture of 
the root, the manner of extracting its sugar, the success at- 
tending it as an economical measure, and his sagacious mind 
grasped at once the full importance of this grand national 
resource for the great West, which he loved so well. He 
made it a topic of his letters ; he introduced it in his speeches ; 
his conversation abounded with allusions to it; and he has 
left on record full evidence of the constant faith he had that 
the West would some day be as famous for its production of 
sugar as it has become for the production of the cereals. 
The granary of the world, it may also be the sugar-grower 
for the world. It is the home of intelligence, and industry, 
and enterprise; and these forces, united to the exhaustless 
producing capacity of the soil, will secure success in what- 
ever undertaking her farmers and her men of activity may 
engage. 

"But it was not Mr. Clay alone whose inquiries kept pace 
with the progress and improvements in the beet sugar manu- 
facture, and who, with a full knowledge of the qualities of the 
root, the nature of our climate, and the capacities of the soil, 
had full faith in the peculiar adaptation of this culture and 
manufacture to a very large portion of the United States. 

"From time to time fields have been cultivated with beet 
root, for the express purpose of sugar-making; and in 
numerous instances that could be cited, — that are indeed 
recorded inthepagesof agricultural journals of the daj-, — the 



APPENDIX. 157 

success of the efforts and experiments has proved fully com- 
mensurate with the expectations that iiad been entertained. 
Sugar of the first quality has been produced, and with no 
more trouble than is experienced in the manufacture of 
maple sugar. These processes have been carried on in 
Maine, in Massachusetts, in New York, in Pennsylvania, in 
Ohio, and in Illinois, with equal success. 

" But, though the experiments alluded to amounted to 
actual demonstration, no experiment or enterprise on a large 
scale, with machinery or equipments to manufacture sugar in 
large quantities, was attempted. Indeed the prevailing idea 
seemed to be, at that time, to introduce beet-sugar as a do- 
mestic manufacture, and efforts were directed rather to the in- 
troduction of processes and machinery whereby each farmer 
might make his own sugar, than to the establishment of the 
business on a large scale. If this was an error, as we are 
disposed to think it was, no great harm arose from it, inas- 
much as, from the prevailing low price of sugars, interest in 
the subject subsided, and finally it was laid aside altogether. 

" The truth is, the country was not ripe for the enterprise. 
It did not feel the need of emancipating itself from depend- 
ence upon the sugar of other nations. The people were re- 
covering from the great commercial disaster of 1837, and new 
enterprises and new speculations that promised readier and 
greater returns engaged their energies. 

" Besides, the country was not ripe for it in another respect. 
We were less than twenty millions of people. The emigra- 
tion to the West was draining the young and active elements 
of the population from the old States, and the emigrants 
were more intent upon establishing their domiciles in new 
locations than upon engaging in new manufactures. Those 
great States, which have outstripped in population, wealth, 
and influence so many of the older States, were then set- 
tling; their character had not been determined; their re- 
sources had not been ascertained ; their great and glorious 
future had not been revealed. 

" We are now in a changed condition of things ; our twenty 



158 APPENDIX. 

millions have increased to more than thirty millions, and the 
ratio of increase is undiminished. The West has become 
settled. It wants and must have new staples from the teem- 
ing soil, new employments for labor, and cannot afford to 
let any source of wealth go unimproved. 

" Besides, the war has disturbed the routine into which we 
had fallen, imposed new burdens and new duties upon us, 
and has pointed significantly to the controlling duty which 
devolves upon us to strive to render the country independent 
of foreign supplies for those great articles of consumption 
which form the necessities of life. If the war has taxed our 
means, it has aroused our energies ; if it has disturbed our 
peaceful pursuits, it has developed our strength ; if it has 
tried our system of government, it has shown us that we have 
unequalled elements of greatness. 

" The exigencies of the war have aroused the nation to an 
attentive consideration of everything that will make for the 
common advantage ; and new employments are opened be- 
fore us for our abundant land, capital, and men. Situated 
midway between the continents of the old world, in temper- 
ate latitudes, with every variety of soil, and land sufficient for 
the sustenance of one half the estimated population of the 
globe, there is nothing to hinder us from producing, in the 
most profuse abundance, everything which is produced in 
the same zone in other lands." 



